Challenge To Pennsylvania Home Schooling Regulation Rejected

In Combs v. Homer Center School District, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32007 (WD Pa., Dec. 8, 2005), a Pennsylvania federal district court, in a lengthy opinion, rejected free exercise of religion challenges by a number of parents to Pennsylvania’s regulation of home schooling. Plaintiffs alleged that "God has given parents jurisdiction and authority over the education of their children," and that it would be "sinful for them to engage in conduct or expression that would grant control over their children's education to the civil government . . . [or require them to] seek approval from the secular civil government”. The parents particularly objected to the requirement that they submit an educational log and a portfolio containing samples of their children's work to public school officials for review. The court held, however, that, Plaintiffs did not allege any actual, tangible ways in which the state’s requirements impair or restrict the exercise, practice, conduct or expression of their religion. It therefore rejected claims that the Pennsylvania statute violated the First Amendment or the Pennsylvania Religious Freedom Protection Act.