Education

Home Schooling Case Reheard by California Court

By Mark Walsh — June 24, 2008 1 min read
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A California appeals court heard new arguments on Monday in a closely watched case on home schooling.

The Los Angeles Times reports here that advocates for home-schooling urged the court to “overturn a decision that severely restricted the ability of California parents to educate their children at home.” Although as I understand it, the same appellate court that issued this controversial Feb. 28 ruling withdrew it when the judges agreed to hear new arguments.

I blogged on the ruling here and here, and Education Week wrote about it here.

I’ve tracked down links to some of the briefs filed in the case, known as In Re: Rachel L.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. filed this brief in the case.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell submitted this brief.

The Pacific Legal Foundation has this brief in support of home-schooling families.

Liberty Counsel has this brief.

I haven’t been able to locate links for any briefs filed on the other side of the case, which include the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles. Those entities have argued that the children in this case should be in public school.

The California Teachers Association, the state affiliate of the National Education Association, also filed a brief that, as I understand it, does not quite embrace expansive rights of all parents to home school their children.

If anyone has electronic versions of these briefs, please send them along to me.

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A version of this news article first appeared in The School Law Blog.