Constitutional Law

N.H. high court: Home-schooled girl ordered to public school

By By The Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H. ? The New Hampshire Supreme Court said yesterday that a lower court acted appropriately in ordering an 11-year-old girl to attend public school after her father claimed his ex-wife's strict Christian teachings were socially isolating the child.

Though religious-freedom groups trumpeted the cause of Brenda Voydatch of Meredith as a violation of her constitutional rights, the state Supreme Court disagreed, saying the case was a family court dispute between the parents that the court was well within its jurisdiction to resolve.

"While this case has religious overtones, it is not about religion. While it involves home schooling, it is not about the merits of home versus public schooling," the court wrote in its unanimous ruling.

"This case is only about resolving a dispute between two parents, with equal constitutional parenting rights and joint decision-making responsibility, who have been unable to agree how to best educate (their) daughter."

Voydatch and Martin Kurowski divorced when their daughter was two months old. The girl, who lives primarily with her mother but regularly visits her father in Portsmouth, was ordered to attend public school full-time starting in the 2009-2010 school year after her parents couldn't agree on an alternative to home schooling.

According to court documents, Kurowski wanted his daughter exposed to different points of view and more opportunities for social interaction than home school afforded. But Voydatch's lawyer argued that the court punished both the mother and daughter for their religious views.

"The lower court held the Christian faith of this mother and daughter against them," attorney John Anthony Simmons said in a March 16 statement.

He said the court ignored that issue and wrote off the case as a "parent versus parent" issue without recognizing "the very real underlying threat to religious liberty."

"Parents have a fundamental right to make educational choices for their children. Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views," he said.

Kurowski's attorney, Joshua Gordon, said his client was satisfied the court settled things according to what was in the girl's best interests.

"It's not about religion or one religion or another. It's not about how good home schooling is or whether public schooling is good or not as good," he said. "It's just about two parents who can't agree. Someone's got to resolve it, and it's the court's job."

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on March 16, 2011 (boomark / email).