SACRAMENTO: Over a thousand parents with children in tow, crammed into the fourth floor of the State Capital April 25 to speak before the Education Committee. The committee was set to vote on AB 2756 a bill they felt violated their constitutional rights if they chose to homeschool.
The families who homeschool spoke out against what they referred to as government over reach.

One by one parents and homeschool advocates spoke, giving the members and the rest of the state a civic lesson in how to kill a bill. They were able to claim victory because not one assembly member was willing to show support for AB 2756.

President of California Family Council Jonathan Keller said, “What we saw tonight was a massive victory for homeschool families, parental rights and government by consent of the people.” 

AB 2756 originally was written to require annual fire inspections of private residences if parents choose to homeschool. The inspections would have been without a warrant or reasonable cause.

The authors, Assemblymembers, Jose Medina, Susan Eggman, and Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher amended the bill removing the fire inspections but added a section to require parents to include their home address in a Private School Affidavit (PSA). The PSA would have been published on a public directory on the California Department of Education’s (CDE) website.

The authors of the bill used a national headline making story of child abuse to prop up their case against homeschooling. Allen and Louise Turpin were arrested by the Riverside County Sheriffs on Jan.15 in Perris, CA for torturing their 13 home schooled children. The children were locked up, chained and abused for years. Medina stated he believes the state has a responsibility to ensure that each child is in a safe learning environment.
He also said, “AB 2756 will provide the oversight needed to protect students and their rights.”

Groups like Family Protection Ministries and many parents felt the purpose of the personal data collection of private homeschoolers would have been used in future legislation to add new regulations for private homeschoolers.

Video by the California Family Council: https://youtu.be/sVfZ_wP2xRQ