John Stossel: No right to educate your own child? This is an important comment from a reader about those early laws:

Tunya, if you know American law, you understand that Massachusetts laws have no relevance to what happens in California. Not only that, Massachusetts in 1642 was under British law, which was immediately cancelled when the United States became an independent nation. A 1642 Massachusetts law is not binding today even in Massachusetts, let alone in any other state.

The only laws relevant in California today are the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and any laws passed since then in the state of California.

And there is reason to question whether a law that presumes to give the state such tremendous power is even constitutional.
- Marcy, Brighton, CO