On March 25th, the ruling was vacated and the California Court of Appeal granted a rehearing, scheduled for June 23, 2008.
Debbie Schwarzer will be at the rehearing and she spoke to Mary Nix by phone again to bring us up to date. You can listen to our interview by clicking on the sound file on The Informed Parent.
This is an excellent audio blog about what has become to be known as the California Decision. Debbie explains the following and more.
The rehearing will primarily be the judges asking questions and the lawyers answering. The Amicus Briefs from all of us were all accepted, and as questions about sources are being asked, it does appear they are being thoroughly read, and facts presented in them are being checked.
The proceeding that day might last an hour. Then the judges may take months to come to another decision. The odds are very good Californians will start homeschooling the coming school year no differently than any other.
Permission Granted by California Court to File Brief in the case of In Re Rachel L.
Arbor Academy, AtoZ Home's Cool, Beach High School, Excellence in Education, Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, Grace Christian Academy, Homefires Journal and Northern California African American Homeschooler's Association (the "Homeschooling Groups") announced today that they have jointly filed a brief on an amicus curiae basis with the appellate court in Southern California that will be rehearing the recent case affecting homeschooling. They have been informed by the court that it has agreed to read their brief.
The Homeschooling Groups consist of several organizations that offer services for homeschoolers, including secular and religious charter programs; advocacy groups supporting gifted, special needs and African American homeschoolers; and internet portals providing resources for the diverse homeschooling community. Their joint brief focuses on giving the court factual information about homeschooling. The groups believe that the court cannot decide whether its prior position that homeschooling parents need teaching credentials constitutes a permissible "reasonable" regulation without understanding what homeschooling is and whether objective evidence exists that it works. Their brief shows the court that California's interest in educating children is more than adequately met through currently allowed homeschooling methods, and effectively prohibiting it through a credential requirement is neither reasonable nor necessary.
The court has stated that it intends to schedule the rehearing in June.
Pro bono counsel for the Homeschooling Groups included Bingham McCutchen of San Francisco, GCA Law Partners of Mountain View and Morrison & Foerster of Los Angeles. The brief was filed on Monday, May 19, 2008 and approved on May 21, 2008.
For further information please contact these organizations as follows
Arbor Academy
P.O. Box 3381
Thousand Oaks, CA 91359
Lisa Jackson, Director
A to Z Home's Cool
Ann Zeise, Owner
Beach High School
5520 Old San Jose Road
Soquel, CA 95073
Phone: 831-462-5867
Wes Beach, Director
Excellence in Education
Martin Forte, Director
Gifted Homeschoolers Forum
P.O. Box 18865
San Jose, CA 95158
(612) 435-4726
Corin Goodwin, Director
Grace Christian Academy
Homefires Journal
Diane Flynn Keith, Editor
Northern California African American Homeschooler's Association
Z. Afiya Olatunji, Director
A joint brief filed by California's three statewide homeschool organizations has been accepted for consideration by the California Court of Appeal in the case known as In re Rachel L.. The court's original decision specified, among other things, that parents need a teaching credential to homeschool. The decision was criticized by homeschoolers, teachers and government officials. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell both issued press releases in support of homeschooling, and Assemblyman Joel Anderson introduced a resolution supporting homeschooling to the California Assembly in response to the case. The court granted rehearing and vacated its original decision in March 2008.
California's three statewide homeschool membership organizations -- California Homeschool Network, Christian Home Educators Association of California and Homeschool Association of California -- have been working together for several months in a united effort to preserve independent homeschooling in California. These three organizations represent homeschoolers across the state. Their amicus brief was a cooperative undertaking of the law firms Baker & McKenzie LLP, representing CHN, Munger Tolles & Olson LLP, representing CHEA, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, representing HSC.