Bit by bit, parents’ abilities to rear their children in the way they see fit is being stripped away. The latest casualty:

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.

The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.

"At first, there was a sense of, No way, " said homeschool parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach Los Angeles County who is active with a homeschool association. "Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation."

The ruling arose from a child welfare dispute between the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have been homeschooling their eight children. Mary Long is their teacher, but holds no teaching credential.

Since liberals are against vouchers for some odd, inexplicable reason, parents are left with two choices:

1. Send their kids to underperforming public schools, or
2. Send their kids to private schools or pay for private tutors

So what the government is saying is this: if you’re too poor to afford private schools or tutoring, and you’re in a crummy public school district, tough.

This will do nothing but increase the divide between the rich and the poor, and in the end its only accomplishment will be to increase the power and influence unions — like the teacher’s union — have on political agendas.

This is nothing more than taking one more liberty away from The People, and moving us that much closer to the omnipresent Nanny Government. Let us not forget that should Barack Obama’s "U.N. Tax" bill, S.2433 make it into law, it would ratify the U.N.’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, which could bring a California-style ban on homeschooling nationwide.

(Editor’s Note: You can track the progress of S.2433, and other liberty-threatening bills, at The Action Center.)

Read the full article here: Homeschoolers setback sends shock waves through state

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