Home Alone

California families received an alarming wake-up call last month with the decision of the Second District Court of Appeals to essentially declare home-schooling to be illegal in California.

The court even threatened that parents and unlicensed private school teachers who chose to educate children could be subject to criminal action. The Alliance Defense Fund has filed an appeal and is supported by both Governor Schwarzenegger and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell.

We have faith that the decision will be overturned. However, parents must understand that this is not an isolated case of activist judges.

Rather, the decision by Judge H. Walter Croskey is indicative of a larger trend towards a socialized, government-run definition of family. FRC’s Senior Fellow of Family Empowerment Ken Blackwell has a column in this week’s Townhall.com which explains these trends.

Ken draws on his experience as a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to illustrate the dangers inherent in the global march to “children’s rights” as opposed to parental rights. Any movement towards an education monopoly poses great concern to parents.

Meanwhile, the powerful liberal National Education Association has vowed to do everything it can to uphold the California court’s decision.

Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council. This op-ed is excerpted from the Washington Update that he compiles for the FRC.