California Outlaws Homeschooling – Well Not Really

HSLDA has kicked it into high gear with the latest California rulling.

Here is what HSLDA has to say,

A California Court of Appeal recently decided that homeschooling is illegal in California unless a parent is a certified teacher.

The case arose in a confidential juvenile court proceeding. The family was represented by court-appointed attorneys and HSLDA did not become aware of the case until the Court of Appeal case was published on February 28, 2008.

The Court could have restricted its decision to the facts before it, but instead, it issued a broad ruling that effectively outlaws home education in California. The Court also certified its decision for publication, which means that the decision can now be cited as legal authority by all other courts in California.

Emphasis added. After reading this I googled it and read the actual court ruling, all 18 pages of it and then I read the background of the case, all 47 pages.

Here is the actual Court Ruling [link]

For more info on the family in question read this court record of their previous run in’s with the California legal system [link]

Some facts:

First “homeschooling” technically has never been legal in California.

To homeschool in California you have 3 options HSLDA gives 4 [link]

1. Send your kids to the public school where the teachers have to be certified
2. Send your kids to a private school where the teachers don’t have to be certified (homeschoolers can create their own private schools)
3. Hire a private tutor who has to be certified by the state
4th option go with an umbrella school (which is what the family in question did)

The 4th option is the one that was ruled as not legal. So worst case scenario the umbrella school system in California is threatened. Parents however can still create a private school for their kids.

For more information check out Ned Ryun’s Blog over at the Madison Project, he is the former HSLDA-PAC director and knows his stuff. [link]

Or read the California Education FAQ page here [link]

Also a hat tip to Doc who also has good information on this issue.

Personally I think this furious uproar does two things, 1) it gets the homeschool community all fired up and unified but the 2nd thing it does is create negative marketing for homeschoolers, the uproar basically says that homeschoolers are uneducated and don’t do their homework.

So check the story and ruminate on it before you email all your friends. And if I’m wrong let me know but please quote the actual source.