Timothy Mark Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Association, testified CPS has had a pattern of investigating families who home school their children. It was his concern three years ago that resulted in Cockerell's assurance that home schooling alone should not be an issue. Lambert said it's impossible to take a cookie cutter approach to measuring the academic performance of home-schooled children because they don't use the same curriculum that public schools do.

Some parents choose home schooling because it allows them to combine basic education with religious tenets, Lambert said, adding that in contrast, public education adopts a secular world view.

If CPS is to rely strictly on the recommendations of a "educational professional," Lambert said that would give FLDS parents few options to direct their children's education. "It seems to leave no leeway for parents except to acquiesce to the recommendations of the educational professionals," he said.

While not nearly as frenzied as last month's two-day adversarial hearing, today's hearings attracted multiple media outlets. Large satellite trucks used by TV stations lined the streets in front of the Tom Green County Courthouse. A local vendor, obviously pandering to the out-of-towners, set up food stands on the east lawn of the building.

The hearings have even captured the attention of European reporters, including one man in town from the London Times. Several locals popped their heads into the main entrance of the courthouse Monday, just to get a look at what all the fuss is about.

The attorneys, in contrast to April's hearings, seemed more savvy during today's proceedings, huddling in groups with their FLDS clients. Many of the FLDS women were in attendance at today's hearing, wearing their traditional solid-colored prairie-style dresses.

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E-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com; bwinslow@desnews.com