This is ridiculous. Saying that parents don't have the constitutional right to teach their own children is just stupid IMO. I'm glad to see Governor Schwarzenegger standing up to this for the home schoolers.Criminalizing Home Schoolers
By KRISTIN KLOBERDANZ/MODESTO Sat Mar 8, 9:45 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080308/us_time/criminalizinghomeschoolers
Parents of the approximately 200,000 home-schooled children in California are reeling from the possibility that they may have to shutter their classrooms - and go back to school themselves - if they want to continue teaching their own kids. On Feb. 28, Judge H. Walter Croskey of the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles ruled that children ages six to 18 may be taught only by credentialed teachers in public or private schools - or at home by Mom and Dad, but only if they have a teaching degree. Citing state law that goes back to the early 1950s, Croskey declared that "California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children." Furthermore, the judge wrote, if instructors teach without credentials they will be subject to criminal action.
This news raised a furor among home schooling advocates, including government officials. "Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what's best for their children," Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement today. "Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children's education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials, we will." "It's kind of scary," says Julie Beth Lamb, an Oakdale, California, parent who, with no teaching credentials, has taught her four children for 15 years. "If that ruling is held up, this would make us one of the most restrictive states in the nation."
While this originated from a complaint of child abuse because the mother was un-credentialed and thus ordered "the children to attend public schools so that the teachers can spot evidence of abuse."
The center making the allegations are more concerned for the children in the case but it's being taken with a broad trowel over the entire state of California.
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