Prosecutions threaten parents' rights

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A frequent question asked by those who know the purpose of the Home School Legal Defense Association (established in 1983 to advance and defend the God-given right of parents to teach their children at home), is what type of cases we handle in light of the fact that home-schooling in some form is now legal in every state.

Two basic types of cases that we handle on behalf of home-school families are cases defending the right to home-school and situations in which home-schoolers receive unequal treatment.

Despite the fact that, from a legal perspective, it is easier to home-school than it was in 1983, home-schooling families still face prosecution and/or educational-neglect accusations, which could result in their freedom to home-school being terminated.

These types of cases are more frequent in states where the home-school law is relatively burdensome. Two of those states are New York and Pennsylvania.

One family in New York was recently taken to court on accusations of neglecting the education of their children because they failed to submit the initial papers required by law in a timely manner.

Social services attempted to show that the children would receive better instruction in a public school. After the court heard the evidence from both sides, the case was dismissed.

In Pennsylvania, several families who are home-schooling for religious reasons have had truancy charges filed for failing to comply with the Pennsylvania home-school law. These families are claiming that the law in Pennsylvania burdens their practice of religion.

The Religious Freedom Protection Act (RFPA), which was passed into law in the state in 2002, provides that if a law interferes with an individual's exercise of religion, the burden shifts to the state of Pennsylvania to demonstrate that the law is of the highest importance to advance a legitimate government interest and is the least restrictive means of achieving that government interest.

The HSLDA has filed a lawsuit on behalf of several families being prosecuted for truancy or facing truancy charges. The school districts threatening prosecution or that have initiated prosecution are the defendants. It is our hope that these cases can be tried quickly and that there will be a speedy decision establishing the freedom to home-school pursuant to the RFPA.

A second type of litigation the HSLDA handles typically involves the denial of benefits by a governmental agency because a child is being home-schooled rather than being enrolled in a conventional school. The typical areas where this occurs are Social Security, veteran and state welfare benefits.