[CA] Deadline for home schools
Todd M.
Saturday, October 12, 2002
Deadline for home schools
Oct. 11, 2002 Orange County Register Editorial
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=6429§ion=COMMENTARY&year=2002&month=10&day=11
Halloween frights could come early this year for home-schooling families.
Oct. 15 marks the last day home schools may file required private-school
affidavits with the California Department of Education. This is a departure
from previous years, when the affidavits were filed with county departments
of education.
After Oct. 15, parents will find out how serious Superintendent of Public
Instruction Delaine Eastin is in trying to outlaw home-schooling. In
August, she announced that California law by her reading doesn't allow home
schooling. As she explained in a Sept. 1 letter to the Register, "The
classic 'home school'- where children are taught by their parent who does
not have a teaching credential - is not a legal means of complying with
compulsory education law, which means that home-schooled children are truant."
But she's wrong. A home school is legal because it is a private school,
sometimes called a parent-operated private school, which clearly is allowed
by state law. And Education Code Section 44237(b)(4) even allows "a parent
or legal guardian working exclusively with his or her children."
The shift to the state for filing the affidavit is an attempt by state
education authorities to locate home-schoolers, Michael Smith, president of
the Home School Legal Defense Association, told us. Although located in
Virginia, his group is closely watching California's situation and is ready
to defend in court any of its members who are challenged by the government.
He said the state figures that anybody filing an affidavit "with five
students or less is a home schooler," instead of a more traditional private
school, which also must fill in the form but the Department of Education
considers legitimate (for now).
He said that, if the Department of Education does go after home-schoolers,
it will do so through local district attorneys. The procedure would be for
a local D.A. to file truancy charges against a home-schooling family, which
means a child has been absent from a public or private school for more than
three days. The parents then are given an opportunity to get the child in
school before being prosecuted in court.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas was not available to talk
to us yesterday. But his spokesperson, deputy D.A. Susan Kang Schroeder,
told us, "We're going to look at every case that comes in to see if a crime
occurred. But we won't say with a broad stroke that these kinds of people
will be prosecuted."
Given the nature of Orange County as a place that appreciates freedom more
than Ms. Eastin, and where in the 1998 election she got just 45 percent of
the vote here (compared to 54 percent statewide), we hope - and even expect
- Mr. Rackauckas will avoid such prosecutions, instead spending scarce
resources on real crimes.
Mr. Smith said parents who are home-schooling, or considering it, should
not worry that they will be hauled into court. He believes state law is
clear and will hold up in court.
We hope so. Home-schooling, which has produced many notable success
stories, obviously is a choice that should be made by parents, not the
education establishment as represented by Ms. Eastin.
(The affidavit is available online: www.cde.ca.gov/privateschools.
Instructions are provided there, but more information is available at the
site of the Home School Legal Defense Association: www.hslda.org. The
Internet also is chock-full of home-schooling sites.)
Todd
------
You're just jealous because the voices are talking to ME! <g>
http://rambleman.tripod.com/index.html
Deadline for home schools
Oct. 11, 2002 Orange County Register Editorial
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=6429§ion=COMMENTARY&year=2002&month=10&day=11
Halloween frights could come early this year for home-schooling families.
Oct. 15 marks the last day home schools may file required private-school
affidavits with the California Department of Education. This is a departure
from previous years, when the affidavits were filed with county departments
of education.
After Oct. 15, parents will find out how serious Superintendent of Public
Instruction Delaine Eastin is in trying to outlaw home-schooling. In
August, she announced that California law by her reading doesn't allow home
schooling. As she explained in a Sept. 1 letter to the Register, "The
classic 'home school'- where children are taught by their parent who does
not have a teaching credential - is not a legal means of complying with
compulsory education law, which means that home-schooled children are truant."
But she's wrong. A home school is legal because it is a private school,
sometimes called a parent-operated private school, which clearly is allowed
by state law. And Education Code Section 44237(b)(4) even allows "a parent
or legal guardian working exclusively with his or her children."
The shift to the state for filing the affidavit is an attempt by state
education authorities to locate home-schoolers, Michael Smith, president of
the Home School Legal Defense Association, told us. Although located in
Virginia, his group is closely watching California's situation and is ready
to defend in court any of its members who are challenged by the government.
He said the state figures that anybody filing an affidavit "with five
students or less is a home schooler," instead of a more traditional private
school, which also must fill in the form but the Department of Education
considers legitimate (for now).
He said that, if the Department of Education does go after home-schoolers,
it will do so through local district attorneys. The procedure would be for
a local D.A. to file truancy charges against a home-schooling family, which
means a child has been absent from a public or private school for more than
three days. The parents then are given an opportunity to get the child in
school before being prosecuted in court.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas was not available to talk
to us yesterday. But his spokesperson, deputy D.A. Susan Kang Schroeder,
told us, "We're going to look at every case that comes in to see if a crime
occurred. But we won't say with a broad stroke that these kinds of people
will be prosecuted."
Given the nature of Orange County as a place that appreciates freedom more
than Ms. Eastin, and where in the 1998 election she got just 45 percent of
the vote here (compared to 54 percent statewide), we hope - and even expect
- Mr. Rackauckas will avoid such prosecutions, instead spending scarce
resources on real crimes.
Mr. Smith said parents who are home-schooling, or considering it, should
not worry that they will be hauled into court. He believes state law is
clear and will hold up in court.
We hope so. Home-schooling, which has produced many notable success
stories, obviously is a choice that should be made by parents, not the
education establishment as represented by Ms. Eastin.
(The affidavit is available online: www.cde.ca.gov/privateschools.
Instructions are provided there, but more information is available at the
site of the Home School Legal Defense Association: www.hslda.org. The
Internet also is chock-full of home-schooling sites.)
Todd
------
You're just jealous because the voices are talking to ME! <g>
http://rambleman.tripod.com/index.html