sounding bill into the Kentucky Senate in 1976 proposing that, in the interest of improving Kentucky educational
outcomes, all educators should be certified teachers and only textbooks from the
state-approved list should be used. The bill
was assigned to the education committee
where it received a favorable report, and
it quickly passed in both the Senate and
the House of Representatives. With little
fanfare, it became law and essentially gave
the Commonwealth of Kentucky the right
to regulate the curriculum and instruction
not only in the public schools, but also in
private schools. 1
Since home schools are considered private schools in Kentucky, the laws relating
to private schools apply equally to home
schools. 2 Therefore, when state officials
began trying to impose those standards in
1977, homeschool families faced the same
legal threats that initially targeted non-accredited private church schools.
Children who were attending unac-
credited private schools were considered
truant. Principals, teachers, and parents
were threatened with charges of “unlawful
transaction with a minor” for causing the
students to be habitually truant, and faced
up to a year in prison. 3 It was a direct threat
to religious liberties, parental rights, and
educational freedom. Bro. Joe Adams, one
of the founders of Christian Home Educa-
tors of Kentucky, vividly recalls the threats
that parents would be sent to jail and their
children placed in foster care.
Stephen Aron’s book, Compelling Belief:
The Culture of American Schooling, details
this story which is commonly referred to
as the Rudasill case. He describes how on a
Friday in mid-September 1977, the parents
of Owensboro Christian Academy and oth-
ers were informed by certified letter that
“unless they enrolled their children in ac-
credited schools by the following Monday,
they would face legal action.” 4 Reverend
C. Harry Rudasill, pastor of Harvest Bap-
tist Temple and administrator of its church
school, Owensboro Christian Academy,
organized the efforts with other church
schools and parents, to obtain a temporary
restraining order preventing the enforce-
ment of the truancy laws against them and
state interference with their schools while
they mounted a full-blown legal conflict.
(Arons, 1983, p. 159).
Trooper Richard Herron, who had two
children enrolled in Owensboro Christian
Academy, is quoted as saying, “My rights
come from the highest authority, God. The
children are given to me by the Lord, and I
will provide for them according to the Lord.” 5
He was adamant that he would not subject
his children to the “public school philosophy of secular humanism” and his actions
were as clear as his words. After receiving
the certified letter about impending legal
action unless his children were enrolled in a
state-accredited school, Herron borrowed a
light plane that weekend and flew attorneys
www.TheOldSchoolhouse.com
Key factors include
the willingness of
parents to educate their
legislators about parents’
fundamental right to direct
their children’s education
according to their own
conscience.
