PETITION TO NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Support the lawsuit! Tell New York City to stop harassing homeschooling families!
Support the lawsuit! Tell New York City to stop harassing homeschooling families!
In New York City, dozens of home school families report being harassed by the Department of Education. City officials have threatened to report these families to child welfare for “educational neglect.”
The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has recently filed a lawsuit against New York City to put an end to this harassment. Please support this lawsuit by signing the petition to the City of New York asking them to stop harassing homeschooling families.
HSLDA has filed a lawsuit against New York City for “systematic mistreatment" of families who choose to home educate. HSLDA stated, “New York City's homeschool infrastructure is archaic and creates unnecessary burdens for homeschooling families, school officials, and social workers.”
HSLDA reports that in 2016, over two-dozen families were threatened with an investigation by the Administration for Children’s Services for “educational neglect” for failing to notify the Department of Education of their decision to homeschool. However, these families sent their declaration of intent to the Department of Education through certified mail and received a receipt. These homeschool families believe the Department of Education “lost or ignored” their notices.
The liberty to educate your child as you see fit is fundamental to American freedom. We must band together to protect the rights of homeschooling families in New York City to do so.
Further, over the last several decades, we have seen home-schooled graduates far outperform their publicly educated peers. In addition, home schooled graduates have strong relationships with other home-schooled students—and more importantly, extremely strong relationships with family members.
In fact, home-schooled students in the United States far outperform public schooled students in standardized tests. On average, home-schooled students score in the 86th percentile across subjects. The average public schooled students scored at the 50th percentile across subjects.
However, there are many forces that would like to prohibit homeschooling in order to require uniformity of thought. Home-educated students don’t have to follow the same curriculum as their public schooled counterparts. Thus parents are free to raise their children in line with their religious convictions. This is a critical aspect of our religious liberty.
Please sign the petition to support these New York City homeschool families.
Further Resources:
http://hslda.org/hs/state/ny/201612052.asp
http://nypost.com/2016/12/05/parents-home-schooling-kids-probed-for-educational-neglect/