Two weeks later, and the aftershocks of a California appellate court ruling on home schooling can still be felt.
The 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 28 that California parents without teaching credentials do not have a right to home-school their children.
"The court has assaulted parental rights again, and this time with a sledgehammer," Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, said on a recent radio broadcast. "Listeners in all 50 states should take notice."
More than 230,000 people have taken notice, and have signed a petition asking the state Supreme Court to apply the ruling to the family involved — not to all Californians.
This week, Jack O'Connell, California's superintendent of public instruction, said he believed home schooling is still legal in California. Local school districts, which prosecute truancy, may be influenced by O'Connell's positive statement.
"This ruling has obviously caused great concern among California home-schoolers," Michael Farris, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association, wrote in an e-mail alert. "We want to remind all California home-schoolers that you should stay calm in the face of this decision. Please continue to operate your home school, because we believe that our interpretation of the law is correct and will ultimately prevail in the court system.
"We are praying, and we encourage you to pray, that the threat we face will be swiftly removed and that home-school freedom in California will be preserved."
Candi Cushman, education analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the vagueness of California law, coupled with the court decision, leaves home-schoolers vulnerable to the whims of the public school system.
"Efforts to immediately restore protections for home-schoolers are crucial," she said.
TAKE ACTION
We are asking concerned citizens across America to sign a petition asking the state Supreme Court to "depublish" the case, which means to apply the case to the family involved — not to all California families.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit the Home School Legal Defense Association Web site.
Dr. Dobson discussed the California ruling on a recent Focus on the Family radio broadcast. You can listen online.
