JOINT NEWSFLASH– March 27, 2008
From: Roy Hanson’s Private and Home Educators of California and Christian Home Educators Association of California
Court of Appeal Grants Petition for Rehearing
We are forwarding the following press release from HSLDA regarding a motion for rehearing in the In re Rachel L. case.
The only parties in the case defending the right of home education remain mother, Mary Long who is represented by a court-appointed attorney and father, Philip Long who is represented by Gary Kreep of United States Justice Foundation who is allied with Alliance Defense Fund in this case. Sunland Christian School (represented by Pacific Justice Institute) is not a party to the case and was denied a motion to intervene in the case as a party. They will now be filing an amicus brief along with many other organizations such as HSLDA.
The court order refers to Jonathan L. and Mary Grace L. These are Philip and Mary Long’s children in addition to Rachel who are involved in the In re Rachel L. case.
Even with this encouraging news in favor of homeschooling, it is important to continue to contact your legislators and ask them to support Assembly Member Anderson’s pro-homeschool resolution (ACR 115). Refer to our March 10th Action Alert. As the court battles continue, we do not want our legislators to introduce any legislation addressing private home education or that would change the private school exemption in current law. Because ACR 115 is a resolution it does not change current law.
From the HSLDA E-lert Service…
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.