Thursday, March 06, 2008

California Home-Schooling Ruling   [Ed Whelan]

There is apparently an uproar among California home-schoolers over this recent state appellate court opinion ruling that parents without valid teaching credentials can’t legally home-school their children.  I’ve read the opinion only hastily, and I have no familiarity with the California Education Code, so I may be wrong in my impression that the opinion presents a sound reading of the law.  In any event, rather than place all their hopes in an appeal to the state supreme court, I would suggest that those discontented with the ruling press California legislators to afford appropriate statutory protections to those parents who wish to home-school. 

Update (3/7):  As Jonah Goldberg notes on The Corner, Ace of Spades indicates that parents wishing to home-school in California may be able to register their home school as a “private full-time day school” and thereby avoid the teaching-credential requirement.  My broader point remains:  To the extent that there are any undesirable obstacles to home-schooling in California, a legislative fix would seem the sensible route to pursue.

03/06 05:18 PMShare