In 2010, THSC amended our mission statement to include defending the fundamental God-given right of parents to raise their children as they see fit.
At that time, we concluded that our decades-long battle to establish the right to homeschool had essentially been won with a Texas Supreme Court decision (the Leeper case) and a policy adopted by the Texas Education Agency that clarified how districts should handle homeschooling regarding their statutory responsibilities to enforce the compulsory attendance laws.
In the 1980s, the law regarding homeschooling in Texas was unclear. Therefore many school districts were aggressive in filing truancy charges against families simply because they were teaching their children at home. With the 1994 decision by the Texas Supreme Court in the Leeper case, the legality of homeschooling was clear, and the conflicts with local school districts began to diminish.
The underlying issue for many who opposed homeschooling was that they did not trust parents to provide the best care for their children. They sometimes had real animosity toward parents because they did not believe that parents were qualified to educate their children. The data, however, is clear that homeschooling works.
This animosity toward the rights of parents to direct the care, control, and upbringing of their children continues today. We have seen that particularly with Child Protective Services (CPS), both in the agency itself and caseworkers. This was particularly on display in the Pardo case.
Some academics continue to argue that homeschooling should be “presumptively banned” to “protect children” from neglect, abuse, and indoctrination. These people generally oppose allowing parents who have an especially conservative worldview from homeschooling. Some even publicly target evangelical Christians in particular. However, there is no proof that homeschooling has a link to increased rates of child abuse and studies tend to demonstrate exactly the opposite.
Recently we have seen a full-blown battle raging in many school districts across the country and Texas related to Critical Race Theory (CRT). The Texas Legislature has even passed legislation limiting Public School Districts from teaching this controversial doctrine. Now we have seen the National Education Association (NEA) come out not only supporting CRT but encouraging schools to use all resources at their disposal – including friendly media – to go after those who are “attacking educators doing anti-racist work.”
During the pandemic, many parents became aware of what their children were being taught and some examples of teachers not wanting parents to be aware of what was being taught in the classroom made the news. All of this is just one more reason that homeschooling continues to grow dramatically.
THSC continues to battle with state and federal agencies on behalf of families as well as at the legislature and in the courts because we understand that if the government, rather than parents, is given the final say regarding the care, control and upbringing of children, we will lose the right to homeschool.
We believe that parents should be the last word on how their children are raised and how they are educated. We will continue to fight on all fronts to make sure that parents keep those rights in Texas! Become a THSC member today to help us make sure homeschooling remains free across Texas.
In 2010, THSC amended our mission statement to include defending the fundamental God-given right of parents to raise their children as they see fit.
At that time, we concluded that our decades-long battle to establish the right to homeschool had essentially been won with a Texas Supreme Court decision (the Leeper case) and a policy adopted by the Texas Education Agency that clarified how districts should handle homeschooling regarding their statutory responsibilities to enforce the compulsory attendance laws.
In the 1980s, the law regarding homeschooling in Texas was unclear. Therefore many school districts were aggressive in filing truancy charges against families simply because they were teaching their children at home. With the 1994 decision by the Texas Supreme Court in the Leeper case, the legality of homeschooling was clear, and the conflicts with local school districts began to diminish.
The underlying issue for many who opposed homeschooling was that they did not trust parents to provide the best care for their children. They sometimes had real animosity toward parents because they did not believe that parents were qualified to educate their children. The data, however, is clear that homeschooling works.
This animosity toward the rights of parents to direct the care, control, and upbringing of their children continues today. We have seen that particularly with Child Protective Services (CPS), both in the agency itself and caseworkers. This was particularly on display in the Pardo case.
Some academics continue to argue that homeschooling should be “presumptively banned” to “protect children” from neglect, abuse, and indoctrination. These people generally oppose allowing parents who have an especially conservative worldview from homeschooling. Some even publicly target evangelical Christians in particular. However, there is no proof that homeschooling has a link to increased rates of child abuse and studies tend to demonstrate exactly the opposite.
Recently we have seen a full-blown battle raging in many school districts across the country and Texas related to Critical Race Theory (CRT). The Texas Legislature has even passed legislation limiting Public School Districts from teaching this controversial doctrine. Now we have seen the National Education Association (NEA) come out not only supporting CRT but encouraging schools to use all resources at their disposal – including friendly media – to go after those who are “attacking educators doing anti-racist work.”
During the pandemic, many parents became aware of what their children were being taught and some examples of teachers not wanting parents to be aware of what was being taught in the classroom made the news. All of this is just one more reason that homeschooling continues to grow dramatically.
THSC continues to battle with state and federal agencies on behalf of families as well as at the legislature and in the courts because we understand that if the government, rather than parents, is given the final say regarding the care, control and upbringing of children, we will lose the right to homeschool.
We believe that parents should be the last word on how their children are raised and how they are educated. We will continue to fight on all fronts to make sure that parents keep those rights in Texas! Become a THSC member today to help us make sure homeschooling remains free across Texas.
