August 9, 2005
West Virginia Supreme Court Reverses Sports Decision
In a 3-2 decision, on July 6, the West Virginia Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling which had ordered officials to permit homeschool students to participate on public school sports teams. The decision reinstates the status quo in West Virginia which means that homeschool students are not allowed to compete on public school teams.
In December 2002, Daniel and Christie Jones filed suit against state and local school officials and the state high school sports association after they were told their homeschooled son could not wrestle on the public school team. The following September, Judge Louis Bloom of the Kanawha County Circuit Court, ruled that the defendants had violated state law and the state constitution. He ordered them to allow the Jones' son to wrestle on the team.
During a period of intense media attention, the family's attorney publicly stated that "...home schooled children in West Virginia are still part of the public education system." Since homeschoolers have worked for years to establish and protect their independence from the government education system, this statement was not well received in the homeschool community, especially coming from the person who represented the homeschool family. HSLDA responded and argued that the attorney's statement was incorrect, since homeschooled children are privately educated at home and not part of the public education system.
Justice Davis, writing for a majority of the Supreme Court, said: "...the parents of home-schooled children have voluntarily chosen not to participate in the free public school system in order to educate their children at home."
The Supreme Court also said that the status quo does not violate a homeschooler's right to equal protection under the West Virginia Constitution. The justices said the rule barring homeschooled students was not unreasonable. Finally, they said that the law which requires a school superintendent to offer "assistance" and "available resources" to homeschool parents does not require a superintendent to permit homeschool students to play on sports teams.
This decision is the end of the road for using the courts to force the public schools to open up their sports programs to homeschoolers in West Virginia.
Freedom and dependence are mutually exclusive. By preventing homeschoolers from becoming dependent on the government schools for sports opportunities, the court's decision may have the long-term effect of helping to protect our freedom.
Many homeschoolers have banded together to provide sports opportunities for their children outside the government education system. West Virginia home educators have now been challenged to follow a similar path.
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