This is what it's all about.
We would like to make private home schooling possible again for everyone in the canton of Lucerne - unfortunately through legal channels. We failed in our personal dialogue with the ’old’ and ’new’ cantonal councillors. Who is behind the project? We are a family with two children who have received authorisation for home schooling. We are members of the association BzH CH (Verein Bildung zu Hause Schweiz) and BzH LU. And we are in dialogue with them. We are conducting this project and our legal proceedings as private individuals. Due to the change in the 2023 ordinance, we, like many other affected families in the canton, will ’lose’ our licence for the 2024/25 school year.
On behalf of all families, we would like to make the following points about our personal case; a) Entitlement to the granting of the licence based on § 33b VBV b) Violation of the principle of legality
c) Objectively unjustified unequal treatment with primary schools and public schools
and other points that we have already had formulated by a specialised lawyer in our legal hearing.
Further explanations: In the canton of Lucerne, it was possible until spring 2022 for parents to teach their children at home if they had a school-leaving certificate. Those who did not have a corresponding qualification had to call in a teacher for support. In a first step, these requirements were tightened in May 2022 - only people with teaching experience appropriate to the level were allowed to teach their children. In the second step, a consultation process was launched under the government council at the time with the aim of banning home schooling altogether. From August 2023, it will no longer be permitted to teach children at home in the canton of Lucerne. It is now mandatory to have a level-appropriate teaching diploma. The government council responsible & the DVS put forward the following arguments in favour of this tightening:
- lack of quality among visiting parents (knowledge of curriculum / portfolio)
- increased effort of the DVS, as the number of pupils in private lessons increased after Corona. Both arguments and others were refuted by our association BzH Luzern in personal discussions with the cantonal government - because the educational qualifications of home school pupils in the canton of Lucerne have been significantly higher than those of public schools for 20 years. The canton also had the option of withdrawing licences at any time or taking action in the event of child endangerment - the DVS did not even apply these measures.
Why should you support our project?
So that the constitutional right to private tuition (homeschooling) is restored and not de facto prohibited.
Especially with regard to children who have major problems in schools but can no longer leave this system due to financial constraints. Families who do not have the financial or logistical means to have their children educated at public schools should once again have an alternative route open to them. That the unequal treatment of privately educated parents is abolished - we are allowed to educate 20 children at a public school, but not a single one (our own child) at home. Your donation will be used in full for the desired procedure. Any further donations will be used for the subsequent application, court and legal fees. If necessary, we want to take our case to the Federal Court and back to the Cantonal Court. If there is any money left over, we will donate it to our organisation Bildung zu Hause Schweiz (BzH Schweiz).
We need your support for this
We are at the point where we need CHF 6600 - 8000 including court costs for a specialist lawyer for the appeal against our decision and the planned first-instance proceedings before the cantonal court. Our objection period expires on 4.8.2024. In total, the costs could amount to up to CHF 16,000 if, depending on the outcome of the judgement, we continue to appeal to the Federal Court and back to the Cantonal Court.