California Ruling: Teaching Credentials Are Needed to Homeschool
RSSThis article originally appeared in SLJâs Extra Helping. <a href="https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/subscribe.asp?screen=pi8">Sign up now!</a>
SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 03/10/2008
"Parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children," a California appellate judge has ruled, stating specifically that parents without teaching credentials may not educate kids at home. The ruling is sending shock waves through the Golden State's homeschooling community.
On February 28 the Second District Court of Appeal, which has jurisdiction over Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, announced its ruling in the case of a Lynwood, CA, family who repeatedly had been referred to the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services, due to claims of physical abuse involving their eight children.
Philip and Mary Long were educating their children at home, and the teacher was Mary Long, whose education ended at 11th grade, according to court papers. Because she lacks teaching credentials, the family is violating state law, the appellate ruling said. Occasional monitoring of the family's homeschooling by Sunland Christian School was insufficient, the court said.
Philip Long told the Los Angeles Times that he viewed the ruling as an expression of hostility against Christians and said he would appeal to the state Supreme Court.
In his ruling, Justice H. Walter Croskey wrote that "Parents who fail to [comply with the state’s education laws] may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction, and subject to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent-education and counseling program." It is unclear if enforcement will follow the appellate ruling.
Unlike most states, California law does not address homeschooling; parents simply file paperwork to pursue this avenue of education. Credentialed tutors or enrollment in independent-study programs run by charter, private, or public schools is required. Enforcement, however, is lax, with the state saying that the enforcement function rests with local school districts.
The February ruling has already made an impact. "This decision is a direct hit against every homeschooler in California," Brad Dacus, who is president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which represents the Sunland Christian School, told the L.A. Times.
