The California Court of Appeals has agreed to reconsider a ruling by the Second District Court of Appeals under Justice H. Walter Croskey that said all parents whose children are not enrolled in regular or public schools but are home schooled are breaking the law. The earlier ruling stated that California parents "do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children."

An estimated 166,000 students in California are home schooled. The earlier ruling stemmed from a juvenile court case where one child in a family of home schooled children alleged she had been physically abused by her father, precipitating governmental review of the entire family & its parents' choices for their children. Civil libertarians & home schooling advocates immediately protested the ruling as completely outside the long-standing freedoms won & enjoyed for parents in California & across the nation, where an estimated 1.9 to 2.4 million children are home schooled.

The full appeals court will hear the case likely in June. According to home schooling advocacy groups, civil liberty groups, & particularly the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), there is ample legal , educational, & governmental support for home schooling & similar parental rights, & the February 28, 2008 ruling is isolated in its interpretation of the California State Constitution. Although the earlier ruling applied specifically only to this one case, it could be used as precedence & given legal weight in other cases.

ADF senior consel Gary McCaleb noted, "We're very pleased that this decision is going to be revisited by the court, & it's one that is deeply entrenched in the rights of parents. . . to control the education of their own children." ADF is representing the father in the family.

For the full story: Court to Reconsider California Home-Schooling Ban.