“..and then they took away the Mommy’s money so the State would gain control of the little girl’s life to make her become a whore for the superintendent. The end.”
California Catholic Daily – Public school, or else — Hey isn’t this just like Germany and Hitler’s old law? In California yet.
A Sacramento County woman has lost her welfare benefits because she home schools her daughter, the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Association reports.
For several years, Essie Tuttle (not her real name) has home schooled her daughters, one of whom has graduated. In order to do so, Tuttle has been receiving assistance from the county. But, beginning with the 2006-2007 school year, the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services announced it was cutting off some benefits to Tuttle because, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association, the county deems home schooling illegal for anyone except certified teachers.
can’t break laws when it’s convenient – local or international
So… Essentially, she didnt have the legal “authority” to teach?
Very odd – article states one of her children graduated, authority or not…
I don’t blame parents that want to home school. Our nation’s schools suck.
3…that’s why our economy is the worst in the world. It’s also why we have such a low standard of living, compared to those math geniuses in the far east. Oh, and we have a terribly low percentage of college graduates, too.
đ
How ever did society manage to progress before the government decided to claim for itself exclusive ownership over the education of children?
Just more evidence that people who love government do not love freedom.
4 … It’s the quality not the quantity that counts.
No no no. California has no laws regarding homeschooling. What parents do is file a form to be considered a private school (no standards or state oversight on private schools). The whole issue of if she’s a licensed teachers….is something that was either made up by HSLA, or by the Sacto, although I ASSUME it was HSLA. (They’re not good actors in the homeschool arena. They tend to push their own Christian agenda, not homeschooling issues.)
Yes, one of her children could “graduate” In California there are several ways to do this by homeschoolers. First would be the long and difficult CHSPE test, the second (more common) would be the GED, and I think more recently, the high school exit exams.
The issue with taking public assistance to stay home and homeschool is really the problem.
I think this is a county regulation the way I read it.
I got an idea. How about the woman send her kid to public school and GO TO WORK DURING THE DAY SO SHE DOESN’T LIVE OFF THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS (public dole).
Welfare should only be for those who can not work, for physical and/or mental reasons. Obviously, if the woman is smart enough to provide primary and secondary education for her kids, she is smart enough to work for a living.
#9, of course you missed the obvious in that by sending her children to public school, she is still on the “public dole.” So the government is paying for those children to be educated regardless.
What this case really means to me is that people who are capable of working, but choose not to, should not be receiving government aid to support that choice.
#’s 7, 9, & 10…. You all make very good/interesting points.
7 – you’ve nailed the real issue.
9 – good job expanding the issue. I would further add that if the woman doesn’t want to send her kids to public school, then that job she takes can be used to pay for private school.
10 – another good reiteration of the real issue, but I disagree a bit with your comment to #9. Adding extra kids to the public system decreases the amount spent on each kid. It does not increase the overall money spent. The amount spent for education is not going to change because this woman’s kids end up being educated in a public school. Regardless of whether she sends her kids, the money will have been spent.
As for John’s original post (and his comment), I think he once again misses a lot. The article hides it a bit, but it seems clear that the law in question is a California STATE law that the county is using. From the article: “A further [state law] option is to enroll a student in a public schoolâs independent study program. This is what Sacramento County has been demanding that Tuttle do.”
So why doesn’t she do this? “But, âbecause of numerous problems [she] has had with the public school district in past years,â Tuttle finds this âan unacceptable option,â according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.” Oh. She can do it, she just doesn’t want to.
I’m going to go with Meetsy on this one. If the parent is getting welfare to stay home and homeschool her kids, she’s deserves to lose welfare, regardless of the legal question regarding homeschooling. To me, that’s the bigger issue here. They didn’t take away her ability to homeschool her kids…just took away her ability to do it while mooching off of the government. There are entirely too many people that receive welfare not because they CAN’T work, but because they choose not to. I can respect her desire to homeschool her kids (I’d love to be able to do that, since I think quite a few public schools here have crappy science education programs, which is why I volunteer at one of those schools), but myself and my wife have to actually work a day job like responsible adults, so that’s not currently an option. If she’s capable of homeschooling kids, she’s capable of getting a job.
(new attempt, for some reason I hit the spam filter)
To graduate, from HOME schooling…
The student must do 1 of 2 things.
Take a School test that grades on All that has been learned.
Take a GED…
Iv seen 14 year olds Take the GED, after home schooling.
I don’t blame parents that want to home school. On the other hand I don’t want to have my tax dollars PAY parents to home school their kids.
All I can say is Kalifornia Ăber Alles!
It’d be interesting to find out if this case was provoked by the local school district. My son has a disabled son (mild cerebral palsy) and needed a special bus to get to public school. Even though the state was willing buy the bus, the school principal wouldn’t authorize it. My son brought in a lawyer and the principal relented and accepted the free (for the school district) bus.
A period of harassment followed – no stopping the class bully from picking on the hobbled boy, etc. – and eventually my son withdrew the boy and his wife home schooled the kid. The kid advanced MUCH faster than he had in public school.
Then the school district – which gets paid by the kid and still apparently had a grudge – started filing legal motions. My son had to go and answer each of them, until the judge instructed the school district to stop wasting his time. Whereupon the school superintendent complained to the child protective service. Which repeatedly cleared my son and daughter-in-law of any form of abuse. But it was on the record. The superintendent then brought THAT up in court.
My son said piss on it and moved from California to Washington State, where he is doing fine and not being hassled by anyone’s vindictive bureaucracy.
No matter what one may think of the HSLA (and I know nothing about them, except that the Xtian political connection puts me off) when I hear of a case like this, my instinct is definitely NOT to defend the school or other bureaucrats.
I agree…. the real issue here is the fact that someone can simply choose not to work have the taxpayers support them. Was she able to use the excuse that her home schooling duties prevents her from holding a job?
Hi, Mike!
With an IQ over 151 (138 on other tests), and a GED — I can’t get a job. I need a College Degree (far and away preferably 4 year) to get a reasonably-paying job.
Armed with my high-IQ in the upper 2% of the populace, 20+ years of computer support experience, and a GED — I can get a $32,000/year job.
This, in spite of the fact that my friends with 4 year MIS degrees call me when their computer is hosed.
Yah, college helps around 50% of the population, but I found it extremely boring (as in unenlightening) and quit. I deserve to live under a bridge with a sign that says, “Please Help”…
Can you code PHP?
Who, me — code PHP? What does it pay? I’ll learn it, if it pays properly. Except, I’ve observed that if you program in PHP, or one or two another languages, every recruiter or HR-feeb also expects me to know Javascript, ASP, SQL, PERL, JAVA, C+/++/+++/#+#+#/?!?/@, HTML, XML, CGI, Brown-Nosing, SHTML, DHTML, OWL, super-secret probation HTML, and more… however, since “they” don’t know shit about it, they want you to make the whole company function for >$50,000 a year because “you’re not in sales”, or “you’re not an executive”…
My answer: outsource it, screw the company, screw capitalism, screw America — China and India will do what you want. đ
OTOH, journalists that don’t report and expose this utterly whacked environment we have to work in, they’re helping themselves a LOT…
Well one big selling point for welfare was originally intended so single mothers could stay at home and care for the children instead of working, that’s why it’s called aid to families with dependent children. The issue here is that the school board appears to be going after homeschoolers any way they can. I don’t care for letting the government decide who is a certified teacher either. You can teach as long as you’re certified, and you can get certification only if you do what the government says.
I think you’re missing the point, John.
It’s not that she homeschools that is the problem. It is that she’s sucking off the government in order to do so. She is an able-bodied adult and therefore should be in the workforce.
I homeschool all three of my children and work full time. It CAN be done. To expect the government to pay your expenses so you can stay home and homeschool is unconscionable.
I think you’re missing the point, John.
It’s not that she homeschools that is the problem. It is that she’s sucking off the government in order to do so. She is an able-bodied adult and therefore should be in the workforce. This does not mean she can’t homeschool.
I homeschool all three of my children and work full time. It CAN be done. To expect the government to pay your expenses so you can stay home and homeschool is unconscionable.
If the women could teach, why is she not a teacher? This is the equivalent of the government paying for a private teacher for one or two students.
I also do not agree with home schooling. I used to think it was better for the children to obtain a superior education, now I realize it is a way for parents to isolate their kids so they can raise bigots.
But, Mike, the thing is there are no pro or con homeschooling laws on the books in California (something homeschoolers talk about all the time). The most common ploy of school districts (hungry for the “per head” cash they get) is to declare a home schooled child truant because of the strict compulsory attendance requirements the state has laid out.
The second most common is to entice the parent to enroll in a public school based independent home instruction school program (the school gets the money, assigns the required subjects, etc.,, the parents must jump through hoops). Hence, what most parents do is set up a private school by filing an affidavit annually, and then keeping good records of work accomplished, time spent in studies, blah blah blah.
However, California statutes are very clear that government has no right to inspect any private school teacher qualifications, student work, curriculum or the like. So, I don’t know what silly stuff the Sacto district is pulling, but I suspect it’s illegal, according to what’s on (or rather not on) the books.
Teachers in private schools do not need to hold state teaching credentials, even though many state officials seem to think they do. The statute is very clear on this point. (health and education code 48222) requires that the teachers be “capable of teaching,” but this phrase is not explained or defined.
So, what we have is the school district acting on its own, making stuff up…as usual. And/or, HSLA reporting that may differ from the actual facts because they didn’t get their normal monthly quota of press time this month. (They seem to be as regular as clockwork.)
I suspect there is way more to the story.
Yeah, we’re homeschoolers….who’ve left California for WA state (where there are really sensible and good laws regarding home instruction on th books).
#12 – There are entirely too many people that receive welfare not because they CANâT work, but because they choose not to.
Really? How many? Let’s see some actual numbers on that.
badcowboy, you have it all wrong…it IS a good way to give a better education, and as for the ignorant bigots….I see way more of them produced by a failing educational system.
What do you think happens when elementary kids are bullied by minority kids (and the school administration is too busy having their smoke breaks to give a damn)? What do you think happens when teachers can only teach what’s in the text books? Have you EVER READ the crap that is published for school children today? Have you heard the drivel that comes out of some of these teacher’s?
Yeah, sure, some homeschool parents do it for weird reasons (like to really force that religion down the gullet) and isolate their kids so they ONLY play with kids who’s parents are also over-the-edge nutty Christian. (There are those groups that require a “statement of faith” for inclusion.) But, there are many, many more who are giving their children a superior, well rounded education. For the most part, from what I’ve seen, people are doing a damn good job.
Its difficult to get the same kind of intense social interaction that school forces a kid into, but how is this desirable? How is it good for kids to be put 30 deep in a classroom, left to torment each other to the point of tears? Sure, some kids are fine, they’ll fight like rats in an overcrowded cage and be just fine. Other kids wilt under that kind of pressure. They get anxious (and are usually drugged to keep them from bouncing off walls). They withdraw and get depressed and walk around like robots. Schools are too large (bigger the school the bigger the salary for the administration, after all, it’s all about MONEY). The subjects are hollow and shallow. Our public schools don’t study geography, civics, or comparative religion anymore. Heck, few teach Latin, and the sciences are briefly glossed over. We’re producing mounds and mounds of “educated” kids who have no more idea where Iraq is, than what the capitol of Indiana is. They don’t know how the government works. They only know what they see on television. Shallow minded, bigoted, barely- functional idiots.
I’m a product of home schooling(as I’ve said in every home school post on here) and so are my brothers. No bigots or idiots or religious nuts in the whole group of us.
But I see this as not a home schooling issue(even though it’s obvious that the Sacto district is violating state law, in regards to the hoops home schoolers have to jump through), the real issue is the Welfare. Based on the basic requirements of recieving welfare, the mother is in violation of the rules. Unless she is disabled in some way that won’t allow her to work, she must be able to be available to go to work in order to recieve her money. Though she could still be eligible for other benifits.
Howdy from WA. Well here’s what I’m reading. The main majority seems to be saying… to hell with a kid’s values. To hell with the welfare of the child. Stuff them in daycare, and get a job and quit mooching off everybody else. A person is only valued if they have a job and are contributing. Wow… that sounds an awful lot like some of the Communist regimes going around in the world today.
But hey, nevermind the fact that these people that “mooch” off of welfare are raising the next generation of people that will vote and choose your politicians, or make laws on your retirement, or pick out the nursing home. But hey, who gives a rip about that, as long as they’re making a buck and paying their taxes, right?
I have been to a lot of parenting classes, and talked to a lot of parents and dealt with a LOT of abused kids. The common denominator for abuse and kids being involved in crime???? Their parents were NOT THERE FOR THEM. Now be it that they were working, or on drugs, or whatever. The kids didn’t have plenty of quality time with their parent or parents. So they sought out that acceptance and good feelings ELSEWHERE.
And I have not yet seen the example cited where the kid is a royal pain in the butt and WONT GO TO SCHOOL. Such as mine. But hey, I guess juvenile detention is a good solution for that, right? Stuff them in a cell, or stuff them in a daycare… it makes no difference. As long as the parent is working and paying their taxes, right?
And then when the parent gets old… what is the kid going to do with them when THEY become a burden… oh wait… when YOU become a burden…? Stuff them in a cell or stuff them in an old folks home. As long as the kid is working and paying their taxes, right?
Hail, the Almighty Dollar!
Just a note… in China, they have implemented a practice in which a person reaches a certain age in the elderly, it is a law now where they give the person a shot that makes them die within a few weeks, and they turn the elderly person out into the woods to go die alone, so they won’t be a burden on their family or society- this is whether they are ailing or not. This is the same country that daily murders babies at birth because they are not a boy, since each family is legally only allowed to have one, and boys are treasured over girls.
Our country is fast going in that direction.
Hail, the Almighty Dollar!