Homeschool Must Remain a Fortress

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Homeschool Must Remain a Fortress
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 00:22:47 -0400
From: "Steven Wallace" <steven-wallace@home.com

To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;


http://TeamInfinity.com/~ralph/homeschooloutlaws.txt

COMMENT:

I know many homeschoolers are Xtian, But in spite of this, Homeschooling
should still be protected, as children are NOT property of the STATE, be
it
a religious, secular or corporate STATE !!!!

TWO LYNCH PINS to DESTROY HOMESCHOOLING

1. http://www.nea.org/resolutions/99/99b-67.html

2. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Truancy/

by Cathy Cuthbert

Homeschoolers across the country were pleased to see another Scripps
Spelling Bee Contest won by one of our own.

In fact, all three top place finishers are homeschoolers. But in Alameda
County, California,where one of the runners up calls home, the pleasure
was short-lived, indeed. The legality of independent homeschooling, and
therefore homeschooling itself, is being challenged by the Berkeley
Unified School District. This is a serious situation for four families who were
involved in a recent truancy hearing even though they are either enrolled
in a home based private school or in a private Independent Study Program. The
families are complying with California Education Code, which clearly
states that private schools are not regulated by any government agency in
California. They have been requested to supply attendance records and
curriculum information as of May 31 but have declined to do so, supplying
only evidence that they have enrolled their children in private schools as
prescribed by California Education Code section 48222. This case has been
referred to the District Attorney for possible prosecution of the children
for truancy in juvenile court, where the bright light of public scrutiny
is not allowed to shine, and possible prosecution of the parents for
contributing to the delinquency of a minor. "The families are acting in
accord with thousands of other families in California. They are acting
consistent with a reasonable interpretation of statutory law," said
Attorney William Rogers, whois representing the four Berkeley families pro bono.
"The battle isshaping up. The Berkeley public schools will be on trial as well
as homeschoolers who have been unjustly singled out due to their attempt to
act on their freedom to find the best education for their children."
This is not the only challenge to homeschooling in the past few months.

In San Leandro, also in the same county, one family whoremoved their child
from public school was threatened with a truancy investigation unless they
enroll in the public school ISP. The school district office, using taxpayer money
to pursue law-abiding families, has retained a law firm to back up their
claim that homeschoolers establishing home based private schools are
truant. Earlier this year, San Leandro's harassment of another
homeschooling family resulted in the mother being pepper sprayed in front of her 10
year old son during her arrest.

Also in Berkeley, Child Protective Services took custody of twin boys from
a single mother for theoffense of "isolation due to homeschooling." In Los
Osos, in San Luis Obispo County, a single mother on welfare has had her
right to homeschool threatened despite the child's attendance and
successful record at the local community college. Clearly, school district
bureaucrats are increasing the pressure on homeschoolers in an attempt to restrict
independent homeschooling. You may wonder how school districts in
California can accusehomeschoolers of truancy when homeschooling is legal. Here is a
nutshell explanation of a rather complicated legal issue. California does
not have a homeschool law. In fact, the term homeschool is
not found anywhere in the Education Code. The Code does, however, outline
the procedure for establishing a private school, which involves annually
notifying the state that the privateschool is operating, maintaining
various records and offering aspecified minimum course of study. Further, the Code
does not conferthe authority on any state agency to regulate private
schools. About 20 years ago, parents reading the Education Code reasoned
that they could open private schools in their own homes.

Nothing in the lawforbids it. There is no minimum size for a private school; there are no
stipulations on familial relationships between teachers and pupils. What
school could ever be more of a private school than ahome based one? By
following the Code, any family, not just those who can afford a tutor or
who have a parent who is a certified teacher, can escape the tender mercies of
the public schools. State and local education bureaucrats, threatened by
their loss of control over homeschooling families, immediately, and
haveconsistently ever since, lied about what the law says with regard to
homeschooling. Showing themselves to be the bullies they are, they
threaten a small number of the most vulnerable families every year - welfare
recipients, single mothers, parents embroiled in custody battles - people
who generally lack the knowledge and wherewithal to fight off government
funded harassment. Usually these families either give in by sending their
children back to public school, or move outof the county. But the
bureaucrats have not challenged the legality of home based private
schools in the courts, knowing that their position is fallacious and they may very
well lose, setting aprecedent they must avoid - an unequivocal declaration
of the legality of independent homeschooling.

They have not challenged home based private schools until now, thatis. Berkeley Attendance Director Alex
Palau has said that they wantto make this a test case, presumably to
outlaw independenthomeschooling statewide. Alameda County Office of Education
spokesman Jan Passama was quotedas saying, "We all have different feelings
as to whether homeschooling is legal or not." This statement reveals the
uttercorruption of a bankrupt education establishment. In the land of
thefree and the home of the brave, it is not what the law says but what
bureaucrats feel that triggers the full power of the state to come
crashing down upon homeschoolers' heads.

In the Soviet Union, everything not explicitly allowed was denied. I
thought we lived under a different system of jurisprudence here.

The Great Shell Game

If you think that Alameda County must have showcase schools, allowingthem
the luxury of being able to spend precious time, money and effort on
pursuing several thousand homeschoolers, you are dead wrong. Alameda
County schools are among the worst in the state, 23having been enrolled in the
State's Immediate Intervention or Underperforming Schools Program for
1999-2000. Does it make sense tosquander money harassing law-abiding
parents while the public schoolsare so dismal? Only when it is realized that, just
like a huckster running a shell game, Alameda County's tactic is to divert
attentionaway from their abject failures by attacking homeschoolers.

California taxpayers are having their pockets picked as they gaze in the
wrong direction, duped once again by education bureaucrats. What's Truly
behind this Harassment The Education Establishment says that their
intrusions uponhomeschoolers are necessary to ensure that all children
receive anadequate education. Don't you believe it. Money is behind
theseceaseless attacks on homeschooling. Schools are reimbursed by the
state depending upon their Average Daily Attendance, or ADA. Targeting
homeschoolers to force them into public school programs would increase
that ADA and therefore bring inmore money to the school districts' coffers. Of
course, the more students, the more teachers for public schools, and the
greater theunion dues, which explains why the NEA for the past decade
hasadvocated the abolition of independent homeschooling.

http://www.nea.org/resolutions/99/99b-67.html

Fat budgets, more jobs, greater union dues: the magic combination that
relegates liberty to insignificance. The Truancy Crisis In 1996, there
were more bucks to be had, courtesy of Uncle Sam. The Federal Department of
Education announced an initiative to reducetruancy. In that year, the DOE
shipped out propaganda packets "to every school district in the nation"
entitled a Manual to Combat Truancy - [ http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Truancy/ ]
a screed that implies all crime begins with truancy - and dangled $10
million in $300,000 to $500,000 chunks in front of local school districts to set
up truancy prevention programs. The directive, then, was sent down from on
high: crack down on truancy with zero tolerance and make the parents pay.
In California, the directive was heard loud and clear. Only three unexcused
absences can now land a parent in a humiliating and intimidating meeting
with the District Attorney where he will threaten, quote dubious
statistics such as 90% of all prison inmates are high school dropouts (which is
supposed to fool us into thinking that 90% of all drop-outs become prison
inmates) and offer the"assistance" of the cops in rounding up recalcitrant
teens. Will it really take more than this to convince parents that schools
are no more that juvenile prisons? Here, then, is the classic Ludwig von
Mises case of a government created problem being exacerbated by further
government controls.

Without compulsory school attendance laws, truancy of course would not
exist.

Steven Wallace

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