Ohio Proposes New Law to Have Social Services Approve Parents Before they can Homeschool their Children

Ohio’s new proposed homeschool law gets a thumbs down.

Health Impact News Editor Comments

The right for parents to educate their children as they desire is increasingly under attack here at the end of 2013, heading into 2014. A judge in Florida recently ordered homeschool children from one family to attend public school, against the will of their parents (story here.)

As we have reported previously, homeschooling is growing seven times faster than public schooling, and the U.S. government is progressively taking actions to restrict it. Parents are increasingly keeping their children at home to educate them, avoiding government intrusion into their family lives, which includes mandatory vaccinations, toxic school meals, and questionable educational materials among other things.

Having access to the nation’s children is an economic necessity for the distribution of vaccines and government subsidized food provided to the schools. As public school enrollments decrease, it causes economic hardship on pharmaceutical companies and large commodity processed food corporations.

After years of successfully fighting for parental rights and acceptance of homeschooling, we are now seeing new attempts to restrict these freedoms, as is seen in this new proposed legislation in Ohio.

Worst-Ever Homeschool Law Proposed in Ohio

by Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)

Excerpts:

With the introduction of Senate Bill 248 on December 3, 2013, by Senator Capri Cafaro, Ohio has suddenly become a frontline in the battle over homeschooling freedom.

SB 248 is breathtakingly onerous in its scope. It requires all parents who homeschool to undergo a social services investigation which would ultimately determine if homeschooling would be permitted. Social workers would have to interview parents and children separately, conduct background checks and determine whether homeschooling is recommended or not. If it is not recommended, parents would have to submit to an “intervention” before further consideration of their request to homeschool.

SB 248 turns fundamental American values upside down. Parents have been deemed by the United States Supreme Court in Parham v. JR to act in their children’s best interests. In Pierce v. Society of Sisters, the Court ruled that parents have a fundamental right to direct the education of their children. This law replaces parents with unqualified social workers to make educational decisions for children.

HSLDA has requested its Ohio members contact the bill’s sponsors to ask them to withdraw Senate Bill 248. However we encourage all our members to consider intervening. This misguided attack on homeschooling in Ohio may only be a precursor to more general attempts by some to impose similar restrictions on parents. Such attempts have been made in the past in numerous states but thanks to the work of HSLDA and state organizations, homeschooling has so far been protected.

For more information visit HSLDA’s legislative summary of Ohio SB 248.

UPDATE 12/20/2013 from HSLDA: Victory! Your phone calls and emails have convinced Senator Cafaro to ask that SB 248 be suspended and withdrawn. You can read her letter to have it withdrawn here: http://hslda.org/hs/state/oh/letter_to_president_faber.pdf

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