The Texas Supreme Court will rule if Christian parents can homeschool their children without compliance with any minimal educational standards set by the state.
The case relates to Laura and Michael McIntyre who homeschooled their nine children in El Paso since 2014, and are seeking injunctive relief from the court to not divulge their homeschooling curriculum.
The McIntyres homeschooled their children in a vacant office of a family business previously shared by other relatives. According to the current Texas laws, they are not required to register with education officials at state and local level, nor are they liable to teach curriculum approved by state, or even appear for standardized tests.
The issue came to the limelight when their 17-year-old daughter Tori ran away from home to attend a public school. She stayed with her father's brother Tracy, who was involved in a prior legal dispute with Michael over the family-run motorcycle dealership. Tori went to the ninth grade, where she was not able to cope with the studies, according to The Blaze.
She also could not give her extended family - Tracy and his parents Gene and Shirene McIntyre, the specifics of syllabus followed in her homeschooling. This led them to contact School District officer in El Paso.
The Texas law requires homeschooling parents to sign a form to confirm if the basic of reading, math, grammar etc are being taught. If they fail to do that, truancy charges are filed.
The court documents say the family thought that the form would violate their religious liberty and constitutional rights. They did not sign the form, and truancy charges were filed against the couple, but were later dropped.
The homeschooling parents also filed a lawsuit against the district, which was ruled against them at the appeals court. The McIntyres then challenged the case at the state Supreme Court.
Tracy said he never saw the children studying, but only singing and playing instruments.
Court documents quote Tracy telling the district officials that he overheard one of the nine children tell their cousin that they do not "need to do schoolwork" as they were "going to be raptured."
Rachel Coleman, Executive Director of Coalition for Responsible Home Education, told The Christian Post that "Texas' homeschool law offers some of the fewest protections for homeschooled children in the country."
"Parents have many options for how to educate their children, but they don't get to choose whether to educate their children," she noted.
The attorney for the McIntyres family, Charles Baruch, said they would not resist limited and needed government regulation of the curriculum, but were concerned about where to draw the line.
"A school district never should start with the most intrusive thing," said Baruch said, adding that the treatment meted out to the family "the most intrusive thing."
