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The Challenge is here!
By Becky Maxwell

On February 28th the California Court of Appeal in the Second Appellate District published a decision In re Rachel L., declaring that a teaching credential is needed to homeschool a child in California.

The following media blitz was wild. Homeschooling suddenly was on page one of all the newspapers and eZine blogs, and being discussed on radio and TV. Much of the information was favorable. Jack O'Connell, California Superintendent of Public Instruction, reassured us his department’s policies will not change regarding homeschooling in his public statement. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don't protect parents’ rights then, as elected officials, we will."

CHN's legal and legislative teams have Karen Taylor and Loren Mavromati working nonstop on this problem, while their teams remain available to monitor other matters that come up. The team members are also being pulled in when needed as resource people. It’s a very busy time for CHN volunteers right now. CHN has retained the law firm of Baker & McKenzie to help with this legal struggle. CHN's media team has been very active in responding to hundreds of media requests (tv, radio, and print) and also issuing press releases. Loren Mavromati leads the media team, which has grown considerably during this crisis, as volunteers step forward and offer to help.

CHN is also working closely with the other state organizations, HSC, CHEA, and Private and Home Educators of California, along with HSLDA in an unprecedented cooperative effort to maintain homeschooling in California as it has been for decades. CHN joins the other state groups in strongly opposing homeschooling legislation.

A joint statement (right) was published on March 26th. A representative from each of the groups visited Sacramento on that day, and met with Governor Schwarzenegger's Undersecretary of Education and many legislative aides.

On March 25th, the In re Rachel ruling was vacated when the California Court of Appeal granted a rehearing. Homeschooling by using one of the alternatives to public school currently available under California law remains legal. While many breathed a collective sigh of relief, the situation still needs to be watched very carefully, and we cannot relax until a full victory is achieved.

So what can you do? Here are some ideas to get you started:

**Write letters to your editor about homeschooling and also make sure your legislator knows that homeschoolers do not want homeschooling legislation. The more of us who get letters published, the easier it will be for the rest of the public and our legislators to see the many, many different sides of homeschooling.

**Click on links and view the online articles to stay up to date, and also to let newspaper publishers know how interested people are in reading about homeschooling. They track the hits to their sites.

**Keep up to date on the information being provided by CHN and please consider joining CHN or renewing your membership so that we may continue to have the resources to monitor this type of activity.

**Keep your family, extended family, friends and neighbors updated with accurate information.

**Read Assemblyman Joel Anderson's "Homeschool Resolution and Petition." Call your representatives and ask them to support it. We need it passed because it shows the legislature’s intent to support homeschooling.

**Keep informed! Check CHN's website regularly for updates and join the CHN Grapevine or CaliforniaHS elists.

It's up to each of us to secure our right to homeschool for our children and future grandchildren. If you have an idea we haven’t yet thought of, please let us know.

Yes, YOU are needed!

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Two New Elists Established As Part of CHN’s Preparedness

In response to the legal problem, two new CHN elists were started in March. The first is for all California ISP leaders. We know many homeschoolers homeschool through ISPs and we decided to bring ISP owners together on one elist, to make it easier to contact them later, should it be necessary. If you are involved in an ISP, please ask them if they’ve joined the new CaliforniaHS-ISPLeaders list. They can join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CaliforniaHS-ISPLeaders/

The second list was established after a message was sent out to CHN members, asking if there were any Democratic or non-religious homeschoolers who would be willing to help contact Democratic legislators. The response was overwhelming, and within 24 hours, we had the largest working team in CHN’s history working on letters and personal visits to legislators. We have over 70 CHN volunteers hard at work helping preserve everyone’s right to homeschool!

CHN also has a support group leader’s list that has been in existence for 7 years. We ask that only one person from each group be on this list. If your group is not represented, ask your representative to go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CaliforniaHS-leaders/ and sign up!

Our support group leader list was started so we would be ready for a problem like we are now facing. It was nice having it all ready to go, but we do want to increase its size. Our goal is to have leaders from all of our state groups represented.

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Credentialed Teachers Marketing to Homeschoolers!
Karen Taylor, CHN Legal Committee

CHN is receiving numerous offers from credentialed teachers who are offering to help homeschoolers during what they perceive to be our time of need. We think it’s only a matter of time before they will also be reaching out to individual homeschoolers, and so we want to clarify a few issues.

For now, nothing has changed legally or legislatively in California that would necessitate that you rush to seek out a credentialed teacher in order to be legally in compliance. If you filed the PSA last October, your school is still ok. It should be fine for next year too, since we’re looking at two options this summer: the court may remove the homeschooling portion of the ruling and we will go back to homeschooling as we have for 30 years, or the court will write another ruling that restricts homeschooling, in which case it will be tied up in the court system for quite some time because we would fight it.

This week, CHN received an ad for a new credentialed teacher service that we thought was especially problematic in its wording:

This option gives families the security of being covered by Credentialed Teachers and the State the security of having families covered by Credentialed Teachers.

For a fee, this credentialed teacher offered to sign on to review a child’s work long distance. And she said it would offer the "security of being covered by credentialed teachers!" While we’re not impressed that she went on to say it would give the state warm fuzzies to know a "real" teacher would be supervising our kids if we signed up, the part that must be emphasized is that her business would not leave homeschoolers in compliance with the law any more than they are now!

The credentialed tutor option (Ed Code 48224) requires that the tutor teach the child for three hours a day for 175 days each year during the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. It takes more than just signing kids up because you have a teaching credential - you need to actually teach them those three hours per day!

Bottom line? Many credentialed teachers would love to teach homeschooled kids rather than work in a classroom. It’s hard work for them dealing with the school socialization issues, and their teaching skills are often stifled as they are forced to teach to the test. Teaching homeschoolers could be perceived as a dream job that would allow these teachers to do what they love without some of the challenges found in public schools. That means homeschoolers are a perceived new market to them, and their hopes are high. Feel free to just politely tell them no thank you if they ask.

You are not required to seek a credentialed teacher’s help to homeschool legally in California.

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Assembly Bill - ACR 115

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 115 (ACR 115) is also known as The Homeschool Resolution. It was introduced this month by Assembly Member Joel Anderson. The resolution acknowledges the long history of homeschooling in California and calls on the courts to reconsider this recent ruling.

CHN supports this resolution and will continue to ask California Assembly Members to sign on as co-authors and to vote in favor. CHN’s Legislation Committee members, along with volunteers who have joined our new legislation loop, have been instrumental in getting thirty five Assembly Members on board so far!

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News Articles on the Legality of Homeschooling

Many articles have been published regarding the recent homeschool situation in California. We have gathered a few below:

California Homeschool Organizations Unite
PR-USA.net (press release), Bulgaria - Mar 29, 2008
The following organizations, California Homeschool Network, Christian Home Educators Association of California, Private and Home Educators of California and ...

Homeschoolers get their message across
Victorville Daily Press, CA - Mar 27, 2008
Karen Taylor, who started High Desert Homeschoolers, represented the California Homeschool Network and said that she was confident that the group got their ...

Teachers union to decide fate of homeschooling?
WorldNetDaily, OR - Mar 28, 2008
Joining were the California Homeschool Network, Christian Home Educators Association of California, Private and Home Educators of California and HomeSchool ...

Court grants rehearing, so earlier ban vacated
WorldNetDaily, OR - Mar 26, 2008
Joining were the California Homeschool Network, Christian Home Educators Association of California, Private and Home Educators of California and HomeSchool ...

Governor vows to protect homeschooling
San Francisco Chronicle, USA - Mar 7, 2008
... homeschools her two children and volunteers with the California Homeschool Network, an advocacy organization made up mostly of homeschooling parents. ...

Family & Community
Wave Magazine, CA - Mar 25, 2008
Sonas, a member of the California Homeschool Network, created a private school for her family named The Learning Continuum. She emphasizes the lifelong ...

Will families be cited on truancy?
Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA - Mar 16, 2008
It's not known exactly how many parents in California are homeschooling their children. But according to the California Homeschool Network, ...

No ban on home schooling
Los Angeles Times, CA - Mar 12, 2008
... better," said Loren Mavromati, a Redondo Beach mother who home schooled her three children and serves as president of the California Homeschool Network. ...

Parents alarmed at school ruling
Fresno Bee (subscription), CA - Mar 7, 2008
Ramirez, of the California Homeschool Network, has been home-schooling for four years. "It just fits our family really well," she said. ...

Court ruling jolts home-school community
Milpitas Post, CA - Mar 13, 2008
What Schwarzer and a team of attorneys from Baker & McKenzie which is representing the California Homeschool Network seek, is to have the decision ...

California court ruling limits some Barstow home school programs
Desert Dispatch, CA - Mar 6, 2008
Loren Mavromati, spokeswoman for the California Homeschool Network, said that she doubts the ruling will stand if brought to the California Supreme Court. ...

Home-schoolers reel from California court blow
AXcess News, KY - Mar 10, 2008
"We'd have to open Alcatraz [state prision] to hold all of us," says Loren Mavromati, a homeschooler and spokesperson for the California Homeschool Network. ...

Editorial: No cause for alarm
Sacramento Bee, USA - Mar 11, 2008
The California Home School Network says nothing has changed: "It is as legal to home school in California today as it was before this ruling. ...

Mountain's Home Schools Oppose State Intrusion
The Mountain Enterprise, CA - Mar 14, 2008
State homeschool organizations such as the California Homeschool Network (CHN), the Homeschool Association of California (HSC), as well as national ...

Local home schoolers not worried about ruling
Victorville Daily Press, CA - Mar 7, 2008
Karen Taylor, who home schools her teenager, described the area as a “homeschool friendly community,” and suspects that there will be more than enough ...

Home Schooling Sparks Credential Debate : NPR
Mar 7, 2008 ... Ms. LOREN MAVROMATI (President, California Homeschool Network): Where do we draw the line ... Interviews · Remembrances · Radio Expeditions ...

CNN Interview
Mar 10, 2008 ... MARTIN FORTE, CALIFORNIA HOMESCHOOL NETWORK: Well, ... Debbie, I`ve got a lot of calls on the radio program today from people saying, ...

Home Schooling Put to the Test
Martin Forte, owner-operator of Excellence in Education, a private independent study program and co-founder of the California Homeschool Network ...

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Visiting Legislators!
By Karen Taylor

March 26th was an eye-opening day for me. Like many people, I had never visited a legislator; I’ve limited my activism to sending a FAX. Last Wednesday that all changed, when I flew to Sacramento to attend a meeting as CHN’s representative.

Four of us met there, and we represented CHN, HSC, CHEA, and Private and Home Educators of California. We had an appointment to speak to the governor's Undersecretary of Education, and we were there in person to visually demonstrate the Joint Statement that we had just released. We were also there to discuss ACR 115, to ask about the governor's opinion of no homeschooling legislation since he hinted at it in his statement, and we also brought copies of the new joint statement.

The day started with an early morning commuter flight to Sacramento. It was interesting listening to those around me, and to realize there was nothing that any of us should be afraid of at all! They were just normal working people, reading bills and chatting on their way to work.

Debbie Schwarzer from HSC picked me up at the airport. Because we wanted to have as much impact as possible in our day there, she set up appointments for us to meet the education committee members. We had eleven 30 minute meetings with the legislative aides. We explained our organizations, talked about the resolution, and explained why we want no legislation – that’s something that is very important right now while homeschooling is getting so much attention. We also fielded general homeschooling questions since some of them had no idea about how homeschooling works in California.

I found the aides we spoke to to be interested in what we had to say, and they were very knowledgeable. But, they're just regular people, and many of them were young. They were very willing to talk, and after my visit, I can emphatically say that we shouldn’t be afraid of them at all! This was so much fun, I think in part because I was mythbusting my own fears that I know many others have expressed too.

I hoped that we’d make an impact by showing up in Sacramento, so knowing it needed to be done kept my nervousness at bay. Once we got started, I realized that there’s nothing to be afraid about! I'll never be apprehensive to talk to them again, and I hope you won't either! If you need some assistance, go to http://californiahomeschool.net/legis/involve.htm . I now intend to take my son in to visit our local legislator, because I want him to know how easy it is, and that when you go in, your voice is heard. That’s a powerful civics lesson.

California Homeschool Network
PO Box 55485 Hayward, CA 94545
1-800-327-5339
www.CaliforniaHomeschool.net