Is the Education Ministry trying to kill homeschooling?
Homeschooling families across country face intensified scrutiny they say crosses line to harassment; Education Ministry ignores query.
Republished: 28 February 2021 from 7 Israel National News Arutz Sheva
Arutz Sheva has learned that homeschooling families across the country have been facing intensified scrutiny that they say has crossed the line into harassment.
The Education Minister, Deputy Education Minister, and the Education Ministry Director did not respond to a request by Arutz Sheva one week ago for clarification as to whether policy has changed, and if so, by what procedure and authority.
Education Ministry policy since 2009 has allowed for homeschooling on condition the family fulfills state requirements, which the Supreme Court wrote in a decision applies to most families who request permission to homeschool.
However, parents say they are being summoned to Education Ministry tribunals to hear accusations that range from lack of socializing to dress code variations, with threats to revoke permission to homeschool and report the families to truant officers.
Arutz Sheva has received similar reports from parents in the north, center, and south of the country.
In the 2009 Supreme Court case Zinigrad vs. Education Ministry regarding homeschooling procedures, the Court wrote in its ruling: “We recommended that the petitioners withdraw their petition, in view of the Director’s Memorandum that was amended this year and allows for a home education permit in accordance with the considerations and conditions set forth in the Director’s Memorandum.”
The ruling goes on to say: “According to the State Attorney’s Office, we were informed that the percentage of refusals to apply for home education is very small and that as a whole the State approves applications that meet the conditions of the memorandum.
“However, the State maintains that without submitting an appropriate application and obtaining a permit, parents must fulfill the obligation to send their children to educational institutions as required by law. The comprehensive petition filed cannot establish a ground for granting the relief sought, and the right of a parent who has been individually harmed by the refusal of such a permit may be examined in the appropriate case in court.”
One parent from the center of the country spoke to Arutz Sheva on condition of anonymity for fear of what they called “further reprisals”: “According to the Director’s Memorandum, it’s a straightforward three-step process: You apply in writing, submitting the documents they asked you to submit, the person who’s in charge of homeschooling in your area schedules a home visit, where they collect any additional information they need and meet the family; that’s Step 2.
“Step 3 is a Homeschooling Tribunal is called for the family with strict criteria about who can be on that tribunal and who can’t, and at that tribunal, there are three options: Option One is approve the family and they get authorization; they actually get a paper that’s an authorization.
“Option Two: The family is rejected and provided in writing with a very clear reason for the rejection. The family then has 14 days to appeal and address the issues of the rejection in in their appeal. There are many people who get the homeschooling authorization after the appeal.
“Option Three is that for some reason there’s a document missing, that they’re missing something; the home visit didn’t happen because of a scheduling conflict, or the family didn’t submit one of the papers they needed to. They can stop the tribunal, ask the family for the missing information, and resume the same tribunal. Those are the three options that they have.
Israel National NewsIsraeli NewsIs the Education Ministry trying to kill homeschooling?
Is the Education Ministry trying to kill homeschooling?
Homeschooling families across country face intensified scrutiny they say crosses line to harassment; Education Ministry ignores query.
Mordechai Sones
Feb 28, 2021, 8:33 AM (GMT+2)
Education Ministry
Harassment
Home Schooling
Homeschooling
HomeschoolingiStock
Arutz Sheva has learned that homeschooling families across the country have been facing intensified scrutiny that they say has crossed the line into harassment.
The Education Minister, Deputy Education Minister, and the Education Ministry Director did not respond to a request by Arutz Sheva one week ago for clarification as to whether policy has changed, and if so, by what procedure and authority.
Education Ministry policy since 2009 has allowed for homeschooling on condition the family fulfills state requirements, which the Supreme Court wrote in a decision applies to most families who request permission to homeschool.
However, parents say they are being summoned to Education Ministry tribunals to hear accusations that range from lack of socializing to dress code variations, with threats to revoke permission to homeschool and report the families to truant officers.
Arutz Sheva has received similar reports from parents in the north, center, and south of the country.
In the 2009 Supreme Court case Zinigrad vs. Education Ministry regarding homeschooling procedures, the Court wrote in its ruling: “We recommended that the petitioners withdraw their petition, in view of the Director’s Memorandum that was amended this year and allows for a home education permit in accordance with the considerations and conditions set forth in the Director’s Memorandum.”
The ruling goes on to say: “According to the State Attorney’s Office, we were informed that the percentage of refusals to apply for home education is very small and that as a whole the State approves applications that meet the conditions of the memorandum.
“However, the State maintains that without submitting an appropriate application and obtaining a permit, parents must fulfill the obligation to send their children to educational institutions as required by law. The comprehensive petition filed cannot establish a ground for granting the relief sought, and the right of a parent who has been individually harmed by the refusal of such a permit may be examined in the appropriate case in court.”
One parent from the center of the country spoke to Arutz Sheva on condition of anonymity for fear of what they called “further reprisals”: “According to the Director’s Memorandum, it’s a straightforward three-step process: You apply in writing, submitting the documents they asked you to submit, the person who’s in charge of homeschooling in your area schedules a home visit, where they collect any additional information they need and meet the family; that’s Step 2.
“Step 3 is a Homeschooling Tribunal is called for the family with strict criteria about who can be on that tribunal and who can’t, and at that tribunal, there are three options: Option One is approve the family and they get authorization; they actually get a paper that’s an authorization.
“Option Two: The family is rejected and provided in writing with a very clear reason for the rejection. The family then has 14 days to appeal and address the issues of the rejection in in their appeal. There are many people who get the homeschooling authorization after the appeal.
“Option Three is that for some reason there’s a document missing, that they’re missing something; the home visit didn’t happen because of a scheduling conflict, or the family didn’t submit one of the papers they needed to. They can stop the tribunal, ask the family for the missing information, and resume the same tribunal. Those are the three options that they have.
“I want to be very, very clear: We submitted all of our paper documents, which we’ve done for almost 15 years prior, and got an authorization. We’ve submitted everything they need, and they said that they have received everything they need from our family. We have been told that on multiple occasions, so they cannot claim that they’re missing information at our tribunal, which they’re basically claiming. They say they are missing information about our family, and we said, ‘What can we provide you with?’ and she said ‘I don’t need any information from you; we want information from other people and we have to go to another tribunal so we have more legal jurisdiction to get information from other people,’ because she knows that they are not entitled to get any additional information from any other people, any other bodies, any other organizations, any other anything under the Director’s Memorandum.
“They don’t have a right to bring other people into our homeschooling case, so they’ve switched us to this ‘Regional Examination Tribunal’, in order to call additional people to the tribunal. Why? Because they want to, but it’s against the law. They have to follow the Director’s Memorandum for homeschooling, even if they don’t want to, even if they think there’s something weird about our family, even if they don’t like us; they don’t get to subvert the law. If they think there’s something wrong about our family, or they don’t like us, then they have options; they can reject us and give a reason, say what it is that they think is wrong, and then we can appeal. If they have a legitimate claim against us, they can always report us to Welfare for that very legitimate claim, but they don’t have any claims against us, therefore they can’t report us to Welfare and they know it. They have nothing. This is just for nothing, this is just harassing our family, it’s harassment, that’s what it is.”
From the comments section (most useful comments):
40 years ago my family was given such impossible conditions for homeschooling that in the end I enrolled my kids in a distance-learning school usually used by families traveling for long periods of time. There was nothing they could say about that.
Comment from me: I experienced the same thing. The Homeschooling person seemed as if she wanted my kids to be enrolled in a distance learning program. This made no sense to me, because if the problem was my son’s Hebrew learning, how would putting him into an English based distance learning program fix that problem? I think the Ministry of Education does not like the concept that a parent educates their own child. I follow the book. I document everything. My son is showing growth in learning.
It is also kind of weird that they are okay with Distance Learning “groups”, but they do not allow parents to setup homeschooling co-ops (even if it is just once a week). The kids can socialize, but they cannot learn while they are socializing. And yet groups like boy scouts are fine, even though that is a socialization group where kids are learning. And chugs are fine. But taking one day a week where either a parent can volunteer to teach or help pay money and different parents help with different learning, that is not okay. I am a software engineer, so I could easily lead a group in programming. Another person is an artist, so they could easily lead an art group … but that is not allowed.
I can understand not wanting parents to say that they are homeschooling, when in reality they are sending a child to an unapproved school. But once a week is not “school”.
