California Targets Homeschooling . . . Like Hitler Did

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

The homeschool world was up in arms when they discovered that AB-2756 in California's State Legislature was targeting homeschooling.  The attack on homeschooling followed a heartbreaking story about 13 abused children in Perris, California . . . after which the Democrats blamed homeschooling for the horrific situation.

The mentality is that if government is in greater control of something, bad things don't happen.

You know . . . like if a location is a gun-free zone, shootings won't happen.

Or, if the government conducts a war on drugs, addiction won't happen.

Or, if the government launches a war on poverty, nobody will suffer in poor conditions.

Or, if the progressive liberal left were to control all of the politics of the cities, the big cities will become a utopia, where we all live safely and peacefully as one.

Nevermind that kids from private and homeschool upbringing are more successful than public school children.  (Homeschool students typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests. A 2015 study found African American homeschool students scored 23 to 42 percentile points above African American public school students.)

Nevermind that just about every mass shooting on recent record happened in gun-free zones. (From 1998 through 2015, more than 96 percent of mass public shootings occurred in gun-free zones.)

Nevermind that since the initiation of the war on drugs, addiction has been on the rise.  The war on drugs is a failure.

Nevermind that the war on poverty has resulted in higher and higher numbers of people falling statistically below the poverty line.

Nevermind that the cities, under Democrat control, have worsened decade after decade.

The hastily written bill was introduced on February 16, 2018.  A second bill, AB-2926, was also introduced.

While most saw the bills as a misguided overreaction to the news about the 13 abused children, in reality it was an opportunity grabbed when the timing allowed for it.  In other words, cracking down on homeschooling has been a long time goal of the Democrats.  They just needed an excuse.  They don't like homeschooling, or Christian private schools, because those kids escape the indoctrination of the public schools.  Those kids think for themselves, and recognize the idiocy of leftist politics, and the Democrats, who are searching for mindless servants who protest when the teachers tell them to, are not fond of any child not being in their grasp.

The Democrats want desperately to be able to come into our homes at will, so as to harass and shutdown anything they believe stands against their crusade for heavy government control.  The dictatorial bill, AB-2756, originally called for annual Fire Marshal inspections of the private homes of homeschooling families.  An outcry by homeschool families forced that part of the bill to be removed early.

AB 2756 still calls for an invasion of private homes, but through a requirement of data collection, a practice that has been argued will lead to discrimination.

AB 2926 would establish an advisory committee to make recommendations on “imposing on a home school additional requirements,” including health and safety inspections, compulsory standards which would force homeschool families to implement failed public school curriculums such as Common Core, and a State requirement of the certification or credentialing of teachers.  The reality is, it would ruin homeschooling, because while the teachers/parents do not have the same level of education as credentialed teachers, high achievement scores are consistent regardless of the parent’s level of education or whether they possess a teaching credential. As the old saying goes, "degrees do not necessarily make someone smart, or skilled at what they do."

Students from States with the greatest level of regulation do not have higher achievement scores, nor do they have higher college acceptance rates than States with few regulations on homeschooling.

Despite the claim of the Democrats, homeschooling in California is not broken, nor a danger to our society or the social well-being of the children.

According to the Pacific Justice Institute, the bills have been defeated.

They came by the hundreds, perhaps thousands, easily exceeding the capacity of the legislative committee hearing room and making their presence felt throughout the State Capitol.  And at the end of a very long day, homeschooling families scored a major victory—defeat of a bill with serious privacy and safety implications. 

For more than three hours, families and freedom advocates streamed in front of microphones to state their opposition to California State Assembly Bill 2756.  Pacific Justice Institute was also represented and voiced its opposition.  Large numbers of opponents made the trek from Southern California, the Bay Area, and every other part of the state.  The opponents included a number of professionals, state-credentialed teachers, and self-described progressives and liberal Democrats.  

AB 2756 originally sought to require fire inspections of all homeschooling families.  Not surprisingly, firefighters objected to this sweeping new job requirement, and the bill was amended.  It then sought to mandate state disclosure of the names and addresses of homeschool families.  Currently, this requirement only applies to private schools with six or more students.  

Just prior to yesterday’s hearing, the author of the bill, Asm. Jose Medina, announced that he was dropping the public disclosure requirements but still insisted that the State needed to gather more data on homeschoolers. 

After hours of hearing from concerned families, Asm. Medina made a last-ditch plea for the bill by invoking James Madison.  The irony was not lost on listeners aware of the fact that homeschooling was the norm during the founding era.
Nor was it lost on attendees that, while countless families traveled across the state and waited for hours to make their voices heard, many with small children in tow, the lawmakers on the committee disappeared during the proceedings and did not have a quorum to take a vote at the conclusion of the testimony.  Later, it was revealed that no member of the committee was willing to make a motion for a vote, so the bill was defeated without any legislator having to take a firm position.   

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, commented, “This is a victory worth celebrating.  For many years, PJI has been a leader in defending homeschoolers in California, including the landmark defense of homeschooling in Jonathan L., and we were honored to stand with them throughout this process.  All is not lost in California; when we stand together, we can still make a difference.”   

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary