On Monday, March 19, parents gathered at the California State Capitol to protest AB2756, a bill that is anti-homeschooling in nature. The bill’s first hearing is set for April 25 in the Assembly Education Committee. Parents and home school families gathered by the hundreds to rally in support of parental rights and constitutional freedom at the West Steps at the Capitol.
The original text of the AB 2756 called for home inspections of parents who home school and puts in place procedures for collecting data on home schooling families. The home inspections part of the bill has since been removed, but data collection has not. Some of the speakers at the rally included Assemblyman Travis Allen (2018 candidate for Governor), Senator Joel Anderson, Senator Scott Wilk, Del Bigtree (Former Producer at CBS Paramount Network Television), Stefanie Fetzer, and the libertarian candidate for Senate District 6, Janine DeRose.
Senator Joel Anderson voiced the importance of showing up to make their voice known to legislators, and praised parents for advocating for wanting their kids to succeed.
“Nobody loves and cares about your children more than you do!” Anderson emphatically stated to the parents at the rally. Anderson, himself a former home schooling father also said that every child deserves the best education possible. Senator Anderson also noted that the time parents get to spend with their children is some of the most precious and valuable use of a parent’s time.
Watch Senator Anderson’s speech below:
Del Bigtree, also a home schooling father, and also a home schooled child pointed out that protecting parental rights shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Bigtree asked why the government is choosing to deliberately target home schooling instead of focusing on how to fix the current broken system of public education. Bigtree read off a list of the bills sponsors and asked why they wanted to have a government that controls the people and inspects their homes, and pointed out how this oppression is a huge violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Several parents also spoke to share and voice their opposition to the bill. Dozens of people attending the rally held signs reading “STOP AB2756,” “DATA COLLECTION LEADS TO DISCRIMINATION,”and “NO DATA COLLECTING.”
