VICTORY for VA Homeschool Families!

Last week, while six justices on the U.S. Supreme Court acted like legislators and issued a decision in Bostock v. Clayton County redefining sex in federal law, the Virginia Supreme Court took a refreshingly different path in limiting itself to the words in the statutes passed by the General Assembly – issuing an important opinion protecting homeschooling and the rule of law in Virginia.    

In Sosebee v. Franklin County School Board, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected the Franklin County School Board’s abuse of power in requiring homeschooling families to provide documentation beyond what the law requires as a condition for homeschooling. The cased started in 2017, when Kristen and Kirk Sosebee submitted a notice of intent to homeschool their oldest child, but were surprised when the school district told them their notice was incomplete because they had not provided a birth certificate or a utility bill to prove residency.

The School Board had just recently finished adopting a homeschool policy to impose greater burdens on families electing to educate their children at home, a fundamental right that’s specifically protected in Virginia law.  After a lengthy appeals process, the Supreme Court rightfully found the School Board’s policy to be an impermissible overreach from what’s actually required in Va. Code § 22.1-254.1, which reads in part:

B. Any parent who elects to provide home instruction in lieu of school attendance shall annually notify the division superintendent in August of his intention to so instruct the child and provide a description of the curriculum, limited to a list of subjects to be studied during the coming year, and evidence of having met one of the criteria for providing home instruction as required by subsection A. . . .

Nowhere within this Code section are school districts directed or permitted to add requirements to the existing statute.  The Supreme Court also held that the Board had absolutely no authority to add to the statute since they are only allowed to adopt regulations to supervise public schools – not home instruction.

Adopting additional policies that exceeded the statute was, however, just the beginning.  During oral arguments, the School Board’s lawyer admitted that if the Sosebees didn’t comply with the policy, it would’ve prosecuted the parents for a misdemeanor truancy charge or taken them to family court where the child would’ve been considered a “child in need of services,” suggesting that he was being abused or neglected by his parents.  You can hear this outrageous statement by listening to the oral arguments HERE (go to the 22:00 mark).

The School Board members didn’t just overstep their statutory authority, but went further to actually bully and threaten parents for electing to homeschool their child, to which they have a fundamental right and were otherwise in full compliance with the law.

Homeschool families across Virginia should celebrate this decision as a needed affirmation of the rights of parents to educate their children in a setting that’s best for their family, and for shining the light on the real abuse – government abuse – that’s aimed at these families.  By not capitulating to the School Board’s policies and challenging them in court, this sends a strong message to school boards and other local bodies that they cannot arbitrarily make up their own rules.

In a sea of bad news these days, it’s great to hear a great victory like this one.