Editorial: Homeschooling, Parental Choice, the Supreme Court and our Future

All parents are 'home school parents'

All parents are "home school parents". Some choose to share that educational mission with others outside of the home as their children mature. When they do, those partners in the educational mission should look first to the parents, not to a bloated federal bureaucracy.

P>CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - We recently published two well written articles by one of our contributing writers Sonja Corbitt on "homeschooling". We will present more such articles in the future. In this editorial I want to address one of the most important public policy issues making its way through the Courts, with extraordinary implications for our national future. That issue is "School Choice" or "Parental Choice". I prefer the latter term. Parents are the ones who should make the educational decision for their children. Included in any just educational policy should be support for what is called "homeschooling".

All parents are "home school parents". Some choose to share that educational mission with others outside of the home as their children mature. When they do, those partners in the educational mission should look first to the parents, not to a bloated federal bureaucracy. It was the polestar of educational law for many years that teachers act in loco parentis - a Latin phrase meaning in the place of, or on behalf of the parents. Sadly, we have lost our way.  In addition, the very origins of what became the "public" school system began with families pooling resources in small community schools.We need to reconsider our history to chart our future.  

Some who oppose "school choice" are entrenched in the current federalized educational bureaucracy and the culture which fuels it. However, increasingly people of every walk of life will admit the obvious, our educational system is broken. I write as an ardent supporter of "Parental Choice in Education". I am not against government. I insist that we remember that government begins in the family. Any good governance must recognize the first government of the family and follow the social ordering and good governance principle of subsidiarity.That principle reminds us that good government is bottom up, not top down, deferring first to the smallest governing unit; not usurping but empowering and helping families.

The current overly federalized approach to education in the United States is failing. Statistics and experience confirm the obvious. It is time for a change and parental (school) choice is the change that is needed. It means affirming again, as a matter of public policy and legislation, that Parents are the ones who should be able to make the choice of how to best extend their own teaching mission outside of the home.

The proper role of Federal, State or Local Government is to support, NOT USURP, the first government in the home. Rather than focus on the word "School" - which is then used to arouse a "public" school vs. "private" school debate - we should use the phrase "Parental Choice". After all, it is Parents who are the first teachers of their children and the family is the first school. This is where the policy debate should focus.

Those of us who support this approach must watch our language. We are not against government. We simply maintain that government begins in the family. Good governance recognizes the first government of the family and follows the social ordering and good governance principle of subsidiarity by deferring to the smallest governing unit; not usurping but empowering and helping families. The current overly federalized approach to education in the United States is failing.

The teaching of the Catholic Church on the primacy of parents in the educational mission is clear and helpful. If understood properly, and presented by actively involved Catholics, it can provide insights for a new National Educational policy. After all, the primacy of marriage - and the family founded upon it - as the first cell of society, the first church, first government, first school, first hospital, first economy, and the first mediating institution of the broader society is at the heart of Catholic Social Thought. Reaffirming it is the path to social recovery.

A just and efficient philosophy of government should be founded upon the truth that the family is the first government and that all other government must first be at its service. This is not just a "religious" truth, it is the TRUTH. In his marvelous apostolic exhortation on the family entitled "The Role of the Christian family in the Modern World" (Familiaris Consortio) the Venerable Pope John Paul II affirmed the social and political role of the family and called for the development of a "family politics". The teaching of the Catholic Church on the primacy of parents in the education of their children is fundamental and Catholics must lead the charge. .

Catholics should embrace a "family politics". We desperately need it.  It is time to help people understand Parental Choice in education. It is about the recognition of the family as the first school and first vital cell of human society. This is not just our "religious" position, it is the truth. Parents are the first teachers of their children and all education begins in the home. We need to acknowledge in our positive law the right of parents to choose for their own children where they go to school. That choice should include the full array of options, public, private, parochial, charter and home schools, no matter what their economic status.

Education outside of the home is an extension of the parental role and should recognize and defer to the parents primary role in the educational mission. These children are not, in the words of the US Supreme Courts' Wisconsin v Yoder decision "....mere creatures of the State". The family is the first government and the first school house. We have forgotten that objective truth as a Nation and we are reaping the consequences.

Here is an insight taken from the Apostolic Exhortation "Familiaris Consortio": "The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, since it is connected with the transmission of human life; it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others, on account of the uniqueness of the loving relationship between parents and children; it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others..."

In his "Letter to Families" the late Pope wrote "Parents are the first and most important educators of their own children, and they also possess a fundamental competence in this area; they are educators because they are parents. They share their educational mission with other individuals or institutions, such as the Church and the State. But the mission of education must always be carried out in accordance with a proper application of the Principle of Subsidiarity."

"This implies the legitimacy and indeed the need of giving assistance to the parents, but finds its intrinsic and absolute limit in their prevailing right and actual capabilities. The principle of subsidiarity is thus at the service of parental love, meeting the good of the family unit. For parents by themselves are not capable of satisfying every requirement of the whole process of raising children; especially in matters concerning their schooling and the entire gamut of socialization.
"Subsidiarity thus complements paternal and maternal love and confirms its fundamental nature, inasmuch as all other participants in the process of education are only able to carry out their responsibilities in the name of the parents, with their consent and, to a certain degree, with their authorization."

Parental (School) Choice is an idea whose time has come. It is a matter of true social justice, not what is masquerading as social justice in some circles these days. The opposition of some in control of the teachers unions to such a just approach to educational policy and fundamental fairness shows how far some of these mediating associations have strayed from their primary role. They fail to defer to the first mediating institution of the family. Parental choice in education is right for our children, right for our parents and right for our Nation.

The US Supreme Court will soon hear arguments in the consolidated cases of Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn and Garriott v. Winn. Through these cases the Court will consider the constitutionality of an Arizona law which gives residents a State tax credit when they donate to what are called "School Tuition organizations." These organizations in turn provide assistance to students. Arizona has at least 55 of these "School Tuition Organizations". They have distributed $50 million to 27,000 students. These grants have enabled needy students to attend 370 private schools in grades K-12. This includes religious schools, if the parents so choose.

The Catholic Church operates two such scholarship organizations. Ron Johnson is the Executive Director of the Arizona Catholic Conference. Speaking for the Church he calls parental choice in education "one of our largest priorities." He also notes that similar organizations exist for other religiously affiliated schools. In fact, under the State program any religious or private entity can establish such a scholarship organization in order to distribute such funds. 

The Arizona program began in 1997. It has successfully overcome efforts by the ACLU to strike it down. They have argued that since religiously based schools are involved in the program, it somehow violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Advocates of the program point out that the government does not collect or distribute the scholarship funds. Rather, it is handled entirely by individuals and private organizations. Further,  no one religion is favored and religious schools are simply a part of the program along with many other options.

In 2009, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the program was unconstitutional.  Attorneys for the state of Arizona, and several other parties have asked the US Supreme Court to review the case. They will do so in their fall term. This is an important case and one which we will be following very closely. It is time to restore the rightful role of parents in the education of their children.

We are standing on the precipice of one of the most important Congressional midterms in decades. The issues are not "liberal" v "conservative", "Democrat" v "Republican". They concern the future of this experiment in ordered liberty called the United States of America. Parental Choice in education is the path to a true renewal in education. Ask the candidates in your own jurisdication where they stand on this issue and inform your vote accordingly.The future depends on you! 

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