The curriculum was designed in consultation with the school district where the children had previously attended. Through HBEP the children were provided some instruction by certified teachers, but not the required minimum of six hours a day. At the end of the school year, three of the four children had standardized test results which placed them at or above their grade level. The Bennetts were convicted of violating the teacher certification requirement and fined fifty dollars each. The court denied the parents' claim.
Parents only have a fundamental right to direct the religious education of their children.
Absent such a claim, states have the power to regulate education so long as the law has a rational relationship to the state's interest in the education of children. A teacher certification requirement was found to be reasonable, notwithstanding that less restrictive means might exist. The existence of different methods used by other states did not mean that the certification requirement was unreasonable. Those states may have different interests in regulating education. Justice Riley dissented on the basis that the law interfered with the parents' right to direct the education of their children.