by Rusty Pugh
(AgapePress) – A court ruling in favor of a Kentucky home schooler has stopped an attempt by a trial court to recapture a child for the public school system.
A state appeals court has ruled that a Kentucky teenager, known as “Sarah D.,” was not habitually truant earlier this year, and she may return to home schooling. Mike Smith, an attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association, says the opinion reverses a juvenile court judge who is hostile to home schoolers.
Smith says the lower court judge, Sue Carol Browning, concluded falsely that Sarah was guilty of truancy and ordered her to be picked up. He says the judge should have done her homework, but instead made two mistakes. First, he says, Browning failed to dismiss the case based on the fact that the school never sent proper notification to Sarah's mother. According to Smith, Browning's second mistake was ignoring a parent's right to choose their child's education.
“[T]he [appeals] judge ruled … the parents have a fundamental right to choose home education, and that that should not be denied them and the child should not have been ordered into a public school unless the school district is able to show that the child's education was being harmed. There was no evidence to that effect,” Smith says. “As a matter of fact, the only evidence presented on that point was an expert witness [on education] presented by us … that indicated the child was doing very well.”
In addition, Browning ordered Sarah's mother to be arrested. The appeals court ruling lifted that arrest warrant.
Smith says the trial court was determined to “recapture” Sarah for the public school system, abusing parental rights in the process. He says he is grateful that the appeals court recognized Browning's abuse of parental rights and restored authority to the girl's mother and father.
(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)
Public Schools' Failure Opens Door for Home Schooling
by Bill Fancher and Rusty Pugh
(AgapePress) – One of the founders of the modern home-schooling movement says public education has lost sight of its intent.
Dr. Paul Lindstrom, a pioneer in home schooling, says “at-home education” is exploding in popularity because it is producing the product that parents want — “namely, a child [who] is educated. A child who can read, a child who can spell, a child who knows [mathematics].”
Lindstrom says, after all, that is the purpose of schooling. “Education has historically been the three R's — reading, writing, and arithmetic. And yet today, in the government's school system, the emphasis is on political correctness, sexual socialization, all sorts of things that have nothing to do with a traditional education,” he says.
“That's why we have a reading crisis in our country today. That's why we have a geography-knowledge crisis, a math crisis, [and] a science crisis.”
Lindstrom insists home schooling is here to stay and will only increase in popularity as more and more parents place their child's educational well-being ahead of convenience.
Meanwhile, home-schooling parents will benefit from the tax-free education savings accounts under the new federal tax law, if they meet their state's requirements for home-school curriculum. Erica Lestielle of the Family Research Council says the new law allows parents to set aside up to $2,000 a year per child in a tax-free account.
“If their state considers home schooling a 'school' under their terms, [home-schooling parents] could also use this new reform to their advantage,” Lestielle says. “It's a great way for home schoolers now to save their own money, get a little bit of benefit from the government, and use that money towards computers, books, any kind of educational expenses.”
According to the House Ways and Means Committee, the term “school” means any school that provides elementary or secondary education (kindergarten through 12th grade). Lestielle calls the education provisions “great news” because FRC has worked for seven years for education savings accounts.
