Brazil Court Sentences Homeschooling Couple to 50 Days for 'Intellectual Neglect'
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 8
Brazil Court Sentences Homeschooling Couple to 50 Days for 'Intellectual Neglect'
2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 8
Summary
A São Paulo criminal court sentenced Audato and Ieda Denardi to 50 days in prison after finding their homeschooling of two daughters amounted to "intellectual neglect."
The judge said the parents used a non-state-approved curriculum that omitted mandated content on gender and sex education and tolerance and diversity, according to the family's lawyer and ADF International.
State prosecutors had urged acquittal after an independent psychologist found the girls were thriving socially and academically, but the judge rejected that recommendation despite more than 3,000 pages of defense evidence.
The couple, sentenced by a lower court in April, remain free while appealing what supporters call Brazil's first criminal homeschooling prosecution; the case will go to São Paulo state's 7th Criminal Chamber.
The ruling lands in a legal gray zone: Brazil's Supreme Court said in 2019 homeschooling is not unconstitutional, but a 2022 regulation bill passed the lower house and stalled in the Senate.