Homeschooling Leaps into the Spotlight
Prestige accrues to the elementary school that produces the winner of the National Spelling Bee. But in the case of this year's winner, Rebecca A. Sealfon of Brooklyn, N.Y., her school is her home and her teacher is her mother. From a fringe movement involving tens of thousands of students in the 1970s, the practice of home schooling has increased rapidly in two decades. Today, 1.23 million students are schooled at home.
Until far-reaching educational deregulation takes place, and more options become available, home schooling helps limit the fallout from the failure of the public schools. Rebecca Sealfon won't be the last to demonstrate home schooling's merits. Deregulating home schools would produce many more excellent students.
Mark Brandly
Wall Street Journal, June 9, 1997
Martial Law or Crime Stopper?
Monrovia's nationally-recognized anti-truancy program, now under challenge in court, was defended by city officials for having a substantial effect both on school attendance and daytime crime rates.
Six adults and five children filed suit this week against Monrovia and its police chief, calling the truancy law "a tool of martial law."
Charles Cooper
Herald Tribune (San Gabriel Valley, CA), May 2, 1997
Assembly to Weigh Bill Aimed at Truants:
Monrovia to Push for Statewide Law
Under fire at home, Monrovia's anti-truancy ordinance could be going statewide.
In Assembly Bill 1151 sponsored by Jan Goldsmith, R-Poway, students under 18 loitering off-campus without a valid excuse between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. could be cited and face a hearing in traffic court.
On April 28, a group of parents and students who attend private school or are home-schooled filed a lawsuit asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to throw out the ordinance, which they say illegally restricts movement by students not on the public school schedule.
In their suit, the challengers to Monrovia's ordinance did raise constitutional issues. Their lawyer, Mike Farris, called it a "tool of martial law."
But city officials stand by the ordinance and its enforcement.
Robin Lloyd
Pasadena Star News, May 28, 1997
