Statewide News & Info

Child Abuse Cases in the News

...in Johnston and Edgecombe Counties

Recent events, involving the deaths of two children in Johnston and Edgecombe Counties, have caused those outside of the homeschooling community to call for more state monitoring of home schools to prevent cases of parental child abuse in homeschool families.

There is no causal relationship between these child abuse cases and homeschooling. Consistent with NCHE's mission to protect your freedom to homeschool, we are discussing these events with our legislators to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of these recommendations.

We will continue to make you aware of any issues that may affect North Carolina homeschool regulations.

June 19, 2008 : : # 0

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California Homeschool Update

California--Court of Appeal Grants Petition for Re-hearing

Dear Homeschool Leaders,
Praise God!
He is good! California homeschoolers are back to their previous legal status.
See the elert below for an update.
Please pray for the continued work to be done and for the ultimate victory to be
achieved.

God bless you all!

Chris Klicka
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From the HSLDA E-lert Service...
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Court of Appeal Grants Petition for Re-hearing

On March 25, the California Court of Appeal granted a motion for
rehearing in the 'In re Rachel L.' case--the controversial decision
which purported to ban all homeschooling in that state unless the
parents held a teaching license qualifying them to teach in public
schools.
The automatic effect of granting this motion is that the prior opinion
is vacated and is no longer binding on any one, including the parties
in the case.
The Court of Appeal has solicited a number of public school
establishment organizations to submit amicus briefs including the
California Superintendent of Public Instruction, California Department
of Education, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and three
California teacher unions. The court also granted permission to
Sunland Christian School to file an amicus brief. The order also
indicates that it will consider amicus applications from other groups.

Home School Legal Defense Association will seek permission to file
such an amicus brief and will coordinate efforts with a number of
organizations interesting in filing briefs to support the right of
parents to homeschool their children in California.

"This is a great first step," said Michael Farris, chairman of HSLDA.
"We are very glad that this case will be reheard and that this opinion
has been vacated, but there is no guarantee as to what the ultimate outcome will be. This case remains our top priority," he added.

The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of:

Home School Legal Defense Association
P.O. Box 3000
Purcellville, Virginia 20134
Phone: (540) 338-5600
Fax: (540) 338-2733
Email: info@hslda.org

HSLDA Website

March 28, 2008 : : # 1

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California Appellate Court Decision

Our individual freedoms are always at risk when justices attempt to legislate from the bench as has seemed to occur in California. In this case, the social workers were not attacking the homeschool law of California, even as they acknowledge, but were simply attempting to obtain a ruling on a specific family in regard to fulfilling the law.
Fortunately, here in North Carolina we have greater protection than most states. In most states, the homeschoolers are operating under a law which can be reinterpreted by trial judges. In our state, however, our freedoms to homeschool are supported by two separate Supreme Court rulings. No trial judge can change a North Carolina Supreme Court ruling (NC vs. Delconte). This ruling was based on the North Carolina Constitution in which it states that the education of the child is the responsibility of the parents. I believe that on this strong constitutional basis, in North Carolina we are protected from a judge restricting our rights to homeschool without appeal to the NC Supreme Court.
NCHE has been in contact with the California homeschool organizations, and they are watching this situation carefully. We would urge our members to let those more closely connected with this case continue to do their tasks. Check the following sites of CA organizations to follow their reports.
http://californiahomeschool.net/
http://www.cheaofca.org/
http://www.hsc.org/
HSLDA has a petition to 'depublish' the ruling currently issued by the CA judge. Check their webpage for more information and actions you can take

Ernest Hodges, President
North Carolinians for Home Education

http://www.hslda.org/

March 21, 2008 : Legislative Alert : # 2

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