Posted by Howard Richman on June 24 2008 at 09:07:55:
The decision is expected in 90 days. Here´s a selection from the Los Angeles Times story by Gale Holland about the arguments that were made yesterday:
Advocates urged a state appellate court Monday to overturn a decision that severely restricted the ability of California parents to educate their children at home, saying family-based schooling works for hundreds of thousands of children.Howard"You cannot deny parents the right to do good for their kids," said Michael P. Farris, representing the Home School Legal Defense Assn. in Virginia. "Anything that causes children to suitably learn, that should be encouraged."...
Monday´s rehearing in the case drew at least 45 lawyers representing the California attorney general, the governor, the state Department of Education and several religious-liberty legal foundations, as well as home-school father Mark Landstrom of Northridge.
His son Glenn, 21, who accompanied him, is now a student at Patrick Henry College in Virginia, a small evangelical Christian school.
"It helped me feel really prepared for college," Glenn Landstrom said of his home-based education in an interview outside the courtroom....
In Monday´s hearing, Patricia Bell of the Children´s Law Center of Los Angeles argued that the courts have "extremely broad powers" to overrule parents when children´s safety is at risk.
"This is not an outlandish or unreasonable request," agreed Judith A. Luby, representing DCFS.
There is no specific language in the state education code regarding home schooling....