Legal / Legislative Updates

TEXAS

Two cases dismissed

The Stone family in Potter County, whose child had been attending public school, began homeschooling on August 15, 2005. The Stones did not re-register their child in the public school or enroll him. As a courtesy, however, the mother informed the school district that her son would be homeschooled; she also asked for her son’s academic transcript.

After the family received the transcript, they received a court summons in the mail. Signed by the Potter County Justice of the Peace, the court order stated that the family had to appear in court to answer for the “offence of failure to appear in public school”—despite the fact that the family had sent a letter of assurance that they were homeschooling according to state law.

Although the school district initially dug its heels in when Home School Legal Defense Association attempted to get the case dismissed, Texas Legislative Counsel Tom Sanders was finally able to negotiate a dismissal, since the family was operating completely within the law.

District files criminal charges against family

Mr. and Mrs. Cole were deeply concerned about their two children when they pulled them out of public school and began homeschooling in October 2004. The children had been failing, and their difficulties had been exacerbated by the school’s persistence in giving one child a double dose of his medication without his parents’ permission. But as the family progressed through the first year of homeschooling, the children improved dramatically—in fact, within a few months the younger child went from 3rd- to 4th-grade work!

However, on June 13, 2005, a petition was filed against the Coles requiring them to cooperate in a child protective services investigation of child abuse. The order was signed by a judge who gave the social worker the right to make a “prompt and thorough investigation” of child abuse and neglect allegedly committed by the family. Even though the allegations only related to the children’s education, the court wanted a complete investigation of the family, including medical and psychiatric examinations of the children as “deemed necessary,” invasion of their home, and interviews of the children.

Through the persistent efforts of HSLDA Senior Counsel Christopher Klicka and Texas Legislative Counsel Tom Sanders, the prosecutor was eventually persuaded to dismiss the case. The Cole family did not miss a day of homeschooling and is continuing to do well.

Family fends off early-morning calls

A Pasadena school district was requiring homeschoolers to provide information not mandated by Texas law, such as the last school attended by each child and the curriculum used by the family. When an HSLDA member family refused to provide this unnecessary information, the district’s next mistake was to call the family’s unlisted phone number. The family became alarmed when the school district called multiple times, sometimes earlier than 7:00 in the morning.

HSLDA Senior Counsel Christopher Klicka notified the school that it must cease contacting the family. The family has received no more early-morning phone calls since.