For those of you interested in the recent California Appellate Court ruling concerning homeschooling, here’s a response that a friend of a friend received to her e-mail to the Governor’s office:
From: governor@govmail.ca.gov < governor@govmail.ca.gov>
Date: Mar 10, 2008 5:42 PM
Subject: Re:Homeschooling
To: [deleted]Thank you for contacting me about the recent Second District Court of Appeals ruling on home schooling.
Every California child deserves a quality education – but it is the parents’ right to decide what’s best for their children. Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children’s education.
This ruling is outrageous and must be overturned by the courts. If the courts do not act to protect parents’ rights, then – as elected officials – we will.
Again, thank you for adding your voice to this important issue.
Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Technically, homeschooling is not legal in California. All homeschooling – and there is a lot of it – is done as home-study programs under either the public or a private school. However, a private school can exist merely as a record-keeping service for self-study programs. It’s a funky setup, but it’s worked okay. However, being that homeschooling is technically illegal, there is some potential for abuse and persecution from the State in it’s various forms (and it does happen, more often than it should).
Perhaps this ruling is a good thing, as it’s opened some eyes about the situation. It’s probably time that California establishes some real homeschooling legislation.