March 2008 — News

Print this article

Click here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal

California Superintendent: Parents Have Right To Homeschool

by Dave Nagel

Extra Credit
Court: School-Sponsored Homeschooling a 'Ruse'

Judge H. Walter Croskey of the Second District Court of Appeals published an opinion Feb. 28 that described private school-sponsored homeschooling programs as a "ruse of enrolling [students] in a private school and then letting them stay
home and be taught by a non-credentialed parent."

Both public and private schools and districts offer programs to support parents who choose to homeschool their children, which can include part-time class attendance, evaluation of work by credentialed teachers, and online learning resources.

More Information

--D. Nagel

Saying that public schools might not be a good fit for every student in California, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell released a statement this week supporting the rights of parents to homeschool their children, despite the Feb. 28 Second District Court of Appeals ruling to the contrary. The statement comes on the heels of a pledge by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to support homeschooling by fighting against the court ruling either through the courts or through other political means.

"I have reviewed this case, and I want to assure parents that chose to home school that California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling. Parents still have the right to home school in our state," O'Connell said.

The case in question was a child welfare trial in which the court published an opinion with implications far beyond the scope of the case itself, stating that parents do not, in fact, have a right to homeschool their children--not independently, not as part of a distance learning program, and not as part of district-sponsored charter programs or other types of programs. The court said that, legally, only full-time, in-person instruction from a credentialed teacher/tutor could satisfy the state's legal requirements for full-time school attendance for minors. Without either a full-time, credentialed tutor or a full-time teacher in a classroom setting, students would be considered truant and parent liable for prosecution.