Because of the courageous stand of homeschooling families in the 1980s, parents today can teach their children at home with little interference from government officials. Listen to the inspiring story of one homeschool dad who refused to back down, on today’s Home School Heartbeat with Mike Smith and Christopher Klicka.
Mike Smith:
Parents today usually don’t worry that homeschooling will get them in trouble with the law—but 20 years ago, that was a very real fear. Chris, would you tell us more about that?
Christopher Klicka:
In many states, homeschooling was illegal. In Alabama, homeschoolers had to be certified, licensed teachers. The Maas family was homeschooling their children under the church school exemption law, which homeschoolers easily met the definition. Unfortunately, they were visited by a truant officer who insisted that they put their children in public school. When Mr. Maas refused he went back and got a police officer, who handcuffed Mr. Maas and took him to jail, where he received mug shots and he was fingerprinted and he was put in jail overnight. We were able to get him released on bond the next day. We appealed to the court of appeals because a family is supposed to be given three days’ written notice before a truancy prosecution can be brought against them. Nonetheless, the court at the district level refused to listen to us, but the court of appeals reversed and we had the decision we needed to defend homeschoolers ever since.
Mike:
Chris, what a tremendous story of God’s intervention in Alabama on behalf of homeschooling. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.
