Democrat: Investigate Every Homeschool Parent

Proposal gives nearly unlimited power to 'unqualified' social workers

A proposal by a state senator in Ohio, Cafri Cafaro, a Democrat, would require every homeschooling parent in Ohio to be investigated – and approved of – by various social services agencies before they would be allowed to teach their own children

And officials with the Home School Legal Defense Association say it is the “worst-ever homeschool law proposed.”

“SB 248 is breathtakingly onerous in its scope,” says a report assembled by Michael Donnelly, an attorney with the world’s premiere homeschool advocacy organization. “It requires all parents who homeschool to undergo a social services investigation, which would ultimately determine if homeschooling would be permitted. Social workers would have to interview parents and children separately, conduct background checks and determine whether homeschooling is recommended or not.

“If it is not recommended, parents would have to submit to an ‘intervention’ before further consideration of their request to homeschool.”

The proposal was offered as a response to the child abuse death of Teddy Foltz-Tedesco, 14, who reportedly had been abused for years by his mother’s boyfriend, Zaryl Bush.

And while that certainly is a tragic case, the marginal involvement of homeschool was not the reason for the tragedy, HSLDA explained.

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