A state trial court judge in Hamilton County, Indiana has refused to intervene to prevent the Indiana Civil Rights Commission from investigating discrimination charges against a home schooling organization.
State interferes with religion, plaintiffs argue PITTSBURGH — On any given school day, the five Newborn children might be studying statistics at a local college, learning Spanish from a tutor or watching a procedure at a veterinarian’s office. It’s part of a curriculum set by their parents, who home school their children because they consider it a calling from God. It all must be carefully documented in a report each year to their local school superintendent. In cases being closely watched by home schooling advocates across the country, the Newborns and a second Pennsylvania family have filed lawsuits under the
PITTSBURGH – Pennsylvania’s home-schooling regulations are among the most stringent in the nation, requiring detailed record-keeping and reports to local school superintendents. Maryalice Newborn — who home-schools her five children — says, “God is in our math, God is in our science, God is in our history. Yet we have to submit to a government agent for approval.” The Newborns and another couple — Thomas and Babette Hankin — have filed lawsuits challenging the home-school reporting requirements under Pennsylvania’s Religious Freedom Protection Act. The act allows people to challenge any laws they believe impose “substantial burdens upon the free exercise of
Home-schooling parents are fuming after the B.C. Education Ministry ordered thousands of them to stop using faith-based materials — or any other “unofficial” resource — when teaching their children at home. Many parents, including some who aren’t religious, say they will cut their ties with the school system rather than obey the directive. “They can’t tell me what to do in my own home,” said Pamela Nagle, whose son is home-schooled but attends a Langley school one day a week. Nagle, a Christian, said she can understand the ministry’s long-standing refusal to pay for religious materials but won’t abide by