Just over three weeks ago Richard and Margie Cressey of Glen, New York, were arrested on charges of “endangering a child.” What was their crime? They had been homeschooling their four boys for seven years … and had not registered with the state! According to home school leaders in New York, the incident began with a visit from Child Protective Services, probably the result of an anonymous complaint. Shortly after that the Sheriff’s office investigated, and the parents were arrested. [Read more...]
Live Free or Die
January 18, 2010 By
The state motto of New Hampshire is Live Free or Die, and that seems appropriate for the actions by the home school community last week. As I wrote, there are attempts all over the country to lay the groundwork for government regulations of home schooling. Professors are writing scholarly papers on why home schooling should be controlled by the state, and it usually comes down to: “We don’t know if every home school student is doing well or not, because we don’t test all of them; so we should make them register, approve their curriculum, and test them every year.” [Read more...]
Who Owns the Children?
January 13, 2010 By
In the 1980s Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox publicly stated that he did not believe parents were qualified to raise their children, much less teach them at home. This anti-parent mentality was shared by most of Texas’ elected officials. Today we are seeing a resurgence of the view that home schooling should be regulated by the government articulated by people like Stanford University Political Science Professor Rob Reich in his article, “Testing the Boundaries of Parental Authority over Education: The Case of Homeschooling.” Baylor Professor Perry L. Glanzer responded to this attack on home schooling in his article, “Rethinking the Boundaries and Burdens of Parental Authority over Education: A Response to Rob Reich’s Case Study of Homeschooling” in Educational Theory 58, no. 1 (2008): 1-16. [Read more...]
Beating Back Efforts to Undermine Parental Rights
May 29, 2009 By
The last couple of weeks, the Texas legislature has heard from home school parents, who are the driving force to defend and protect parental rights in Texas. On May 14 we sent an Alert to our list asking home schoolers to call their state senators in opposition to HB 1232, a bill requiring mental health screening for certain children and the sharing of health care information with CPS and other agencies. [Read more...]
Parental Rights – Never Give Up!
May 13, 2009 By
The battle for restoring or defending parental rights goes on. In April, hundreds of home schoolers met on the steps of the Texas State Capitol to rally for the Texas Parental Rights Restoration Act (TPRRA), and Governor Rick Perry announced his support along with several state legislators. Later that week, well over a hundred showed their support in a public hearing, and on the 29th of last month the bill was voted out of the Human Services Committee on a 5-3 vote. [Read more...]
Restoring Parental Rights in Texas
April 4, 2009 By
Late yesterday we learned that the Texas House Committee on Human Services will hold a hearing on April 9 on the Texas Parental Rights Restoration Act (TPRRA) (HB 2084). In my view this is providential, since two days before that, THSC Association will sponsor a rally on the south steps of the Capitol to draw attention to and support for this bill, which is designed to protect fit parents from litigation. The rally will be from 3:45 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Governor Rick Perry and other statewide elected officials and legislators will speak, as will parents who have been the victims of these devasting lawsuits. We are asking for home schoolers to come to this rally in large numbers to show support for the measure and, while there, to visit with their own state representatives and ask for their support of the TPRRA. [Read more...]
Parental Rights and Custody Cases
March 27, 2009 By
We have seen again and again home school parents in custody cases faced with judges who decide arbitrarily that the children should not be homeschooled. The most recent high profile case was in North Carolina, in which a judge ruled that the children must be placed in a public school, in spite of the fact that they were doing very well academically, evidently because of the religious beliefs of the mother. The basis upon which judges can to do this is called “in the best interest of the child.” HB 1611 is designed to reassert parental rights by requiring equal treatment of the parents, unless a parent is found to be unfit. [Read more...]
North Carolina and Restoring Parental Rights in Texas
March 17, 2009 By
The Internet is awash with reaction against a judge in North Carolina who acknowledged in a custody case that the children had done very well academically in their home school, but he ruled that they must be placed in public school to “test” their biblical beliefs. [Read more...]
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Texas?
January 15, 2009 By
HB 188 is a bill filed by State Representative Roberto Alonzo from Dallas that has a very strong potential to undermine the right of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children. Let me give you a few examples:
“Child has a right to live in a safe, comfortable home in which they are treated with respect …” [Read more...]
