Once again, Democrats prove themselves to be totalitarians.

The Story:

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.

“HSLDA condemns child abuse and is saddened by Teddy’s death,” the organization said in a statement. “HSLDA supports the prosecution of child abusers like Bush and the improvement of systems that prevent child abuse. However, this proposed law does not actually address the problems that led to Teddy’s death and instead unfairly targets homeschooling.”

Homeschool experts explained that in the case of the 14-year-old, reports indicated that he had been abused for years, and after teachers reported the abuse to authorities, Teddy’s mother withdrew him from public school, allegedly to homeschool him.

The facts are that neighbors, friends, family, police, teachers and others all knew the 14-year-old was being abused, HSLDA said.

“Finally, Bush beat Teddy so severely that he later died of his injuries. Bush and Teddy’s mother now are in prison,” the group said.

“Teddy Foltz-Tedesco was killed because those responsible for protecting him did not step in as the law or common sense would have dictated. Why?” HSLDA said in a statement. “Although news reports indicate that abuse had been reported for years prior to Teddy’s death, it does not appear that any serious intervention was made by government authorities charged with investigating such allegations.

“Why was not enough done to protect Teddy from known abuse?”

Subjecting hardworking parents who want to invest their time and money in their own children’s education is not the way to address such problems, HSLDA argued.

via WND » Democrat: Investigate every homeschool parent » Print.