California: Home Schooling illegal

KOGO Radio, Roger Hedgecock Show | August 11, 2002 | self

[John Jorsett]

I just heard on the Roger Hedgecock show (AM 600 in San Diego, California) Susan Fey, member of the San Diego County Board of Education, that California has issued a directive that home schooling, being done as it is by uncredentialed parents, "is not an authorized exemption from mandatory public school attendance." Hedgecock has the directive in hand and will be following up to see what's going on. On the face of what I heard read on the radio, it sounds like the California Dept. of Education is going to require all students to attend public school. For those wanting more, I suggest watching the RogerHedgecock.com web site. He'll probably be posting more info on this.

[Dog Gone]

It seems rather hard to believe that California would take this stance. Then again, this is the most authoritarian state regime I have ever seen.

[DoughtyOne]

It seems rather hard to believe that California would take this stance. Then again, this is the most authoritarian state regime I have ever seen.

I believe the word you were looking for was politburo.

[Dog Gone]

Yes, I was. Thanks.

[goldstategop]

There's a home school revolt abrewing in Kalifornistan...

[Lizavetta]

Relax.

The office of the Calif. Dept. of Education has been saying this for years. Along with the piece of paper that says homeschooling is not "authorized" comes the three options parents may use to homeschool. In other words, we haven't authorized it, here's what you gotta do to homeschool. They're morons.

They have over and over and over and over again demonstrated their willful ignorance of the education code and they're always trying to look like tough guys. If you want to know what the LAW is in your state, contact Home School Legal Defense Association or the homeschool organization IN YOUR STATE. Don't ask the government.

[Drango]

...has the directive in hand..

Check it for spelling and grammer!

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[BlessedAmerican]

Anyone know how many homeschooler there are in CA? Can't believe the board would try this, but homeschoolers have been embarassing public schools in several states by their achievements. And homeschool parents tend not to join the NEA...:-)

[lonestar]

My guess is there are teachers who are not certified in the subjects they're teaching in public schools.

[nonsporting]

numberOfHomeSchoolersInCalifornia := whateverItWas - 3;

[John Jorsett]

Relax.

The office of the Calif. Dept. of Education has been saying this for years. Along with the piece of paper that says homeschooling is not "authorized" comes the three options parents may use to homeschool. In other words, we haven't authorized it, here's what you gotta do to homeschool. They're morons.

I'm not a home-schooler so I don't know all the hoops, but the way it was presented, this directive represented a major policy shift. Something was said about not processing affidavits any more. The fact that a member of the Board of Ed was calling in to get the word out about it, having just received it, indicates that something significant has happened.

Since this is outside my area of experience, I'll bow out now and let the home schoolers follow up on this. Just wanted to let you all know what I'd heard.

[CraigH]

Check it for spelling and grammer!

Umm, that would be grammar. Obviously you were not home-schooled.

[Domestic Church]

Maybe it's time California HSers & PA HSers got a class action going.

[DoughtyOne]

I have a word for the State Board of Ed. "Injunction" And I'll throw in a couple of bonus words too. F them!

[Fundamentally Fair]

I hope you were trying to be funny.

[Khepera]

For a more detailed analysis of home schooling in California, see California—A Legal Analysis.

Compulsory School Age

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"between the ages of 6" by December 2 and "under 18 years of age"

 

California Legal Home Schooling Options:  1  2  3  4
	Option: 1	Option: 2	Option: 3
Legal Option:	Qualify as a private school	Use a private tutor	Enroll in an independent study program through the public school
Attendance:	None	175 days per year, 3 hours per day	As prescribed by the program
Subjects:	Same as the public schools and in the English language	Same as the public schools and in the English language	As prescribed by the program
Qualifications:	Must be "capable of teaching"	Teacher certification	None
Notice:	File an annual affidavit with the county superintendent between October 1 and 15	None	A de facto part of the enrollment process
Recordkeeping:	Maintain an attendance register	None	As prescribed by the program
Testing:	None	None	As prescribed by the program

 

California Legal Home Schooling Options:  1  2  3  4
	Option: 4
Legal Option:	Enroll in a private school satellite program, taking ";independent study"
Attendance:	As prescribed by the program
Subjects:	As prescribed by the program
Qualifications:	Must be "capable of teaching"
Notice:	None
Recordkeeping:	As prescribed by the program
Testing:	As prescribed by the program

CALIFORNIA

Updated August 2001

Compulsory Attendance Ages:	"between the ages of 6" by Dec. 2 (§ 48200) and under 18 years of age." California Education Code § 48200, 48400, 48410.
Required Days of Instruction:	175 days, only for public schools.
Required Subjects:	English and must "offer instruction in the several branches of study required to be taught in the public schools." Grades 1-6: English, mathematics, social sciences, science, fine arts, health, physical education.

Home School Statute: None.

Alternative Statutes Allowing for Home Schools: Home Schools have 4 options:

 

1. Option 1. Under § 48222, the individual home school could qualify as a private school by filing an annual private school affidavit:

    

   1. the instructors must be capable of teaching;

       

   2. the instruction must be in English;

       

   3. the instruction must be in the several branches of study required in public schools;

       

   4. attendance must be kept in a register; and

       

   5. a private school affidavit must be filed with the county superintendent between Oct. 1 and Oct. 15 of each school year. Cal. Educ. Code §§ 33190, 48222.

   In February 1986, the Santa Maria Municipal Court ruled, in two home school cases handled by HSLDA, that the compulsory attendance statute is void because of its unconstitutional vagueness and upheld the right of home schools to operate as private schools. People v. Darrah, No. 853104 (Santa Maria Mun. Ct. Mar. 10, 1986); People v. Black, No. 853105 (Santa Maria Mun. Ct. Mar. 10, 1986).

   Furthermore, in Institute of Creation Research v. Honig,Civil No. 90-0483-B-(M), January 29, 1992, the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California ordered ... "a private K-12 school is not within the jurisdiction of the State Department of Education for the purpose of approval of courses or course content or issuance of regulations, except as provided by law" (p. 3). This ruling would apply to all home schools that file a private school affidavit.

    

2. Option 2. The home school could have instruction provided by a certified private tutor (Cal. Educ. Code § 48224).

    

3. Option 3. The child could be enrolled in an independent study program at home, using the public school curriculum. Cal. Educ. Code § 51745. Under this option, the child is considered a public school student and has to abide by the rules and policy of the public school.

    

4. Option 4. Home schoolers could enroll in a private school satellite program and take "independent study" through that private school. The private school "independent study program" (ISP) must comply with Cal. Educ. Code § 48222 (see #1 above) Adm. Code Chapter 15 P 51745-517. Many home school families have organized these private ISPs which enroll anywhere from two to several hundred families.

Teacher Qualifications: None, if home school registers as a private school, or enrolls in an independent study program with a private school.

Certification is necessary only if the home school parent chooses to qualify as a private tutor.

Standardized Tests: Not required by statute.

 

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THIS ANALYSIS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE GIVING OF LEGAL ADVICE.
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[Domestic Church]

Injunction isn't corrective enough...time for pay back on all the institutional discrimination.

[Timesink]

I presume that, like most (if not all) other states, the California Board of Ed's financing is partially determined by the number of students in attendance, and every extra warm body adds a five-digit amount of money to their slush fund budget.

In other words, it has nothing to do with Ms. Dey, or anyone else in power in California, actually believing that homeschooling is bad for kids. It's just a way to greatly increase the amount of money they get. Just typical greedy, hate-filled liberal politics.

[Drango]

Umm, that would be grammar. Obviously you were not home-schooled.

If you read Gulliver's Travels, did you have to have someone explain it to you?

[Khepera]

 

(click on map for details)

LEGEND States requiring no notice: No state requirement for parents to initiate any contact. States with low regulation: State requires parental notification only. States with moderate regulation: State requires parents to send notification, test scores, and/or professional evaluation of student progress. State with high regulation: State requres parents to send notification or achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation, plus other requirements (e.g. curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualification of parents, or home visits by state officials).

States

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Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho

Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri
Montana North Carolina North Dakota Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania	Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

U.S. Territories

American Samoa Guam

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

Virgin Islands

[Khepera]

Don't let  them Bull$hit you!

[DoughtyOne]

I just meant that I'd put an immediate freeze on any negative action pending litigation that would geared toward turning the State Board into a political paraplegic!

[kellynla]

Thanks for the info. Directive? What happened to laws? Can't wait for November 5. So this Susan Fey has her head up her arse and obviously doesn't know what she's talking about.

[FITZ]

The green states make up a little band toward the center of the US except for Idaho.

[jwh_Denver]

And homeschool parents tend not to join the NEA

LOL! If it wasn't for the NEA chances are there wouldn't need to be so much homeschooling.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

My guess is there are teachers who are not certified in the subjects they're teaching in public schools.

You would be correct. I've had a couple of ex-teachers who worked for me, plus some teachers in the family. They teach the subject or lose their jobs.

[Khepera]

This is a good reason to homeschool. Obviously misinformation is endorsed and promulgated by the schools at the behest of the NEA.

[SSN558]

As one that used to tutor literacy in CA, I'll say it was like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. The teachers union wasn't to fond of that program either.

[MarkL]

My guess is there are teachers who are not certified in the subjects they're teaching in public schools.

The problem is that they do have teaching credentials, having graduated from a "school of education," however there doesn't seem to be any sort of a requirement that the "teacher" actually understand the topic that they teach.

I have a friend, who is a wonderful teacher, and she teaches english. Her masters degree was in english literature, and her minor in undergraduate school was developmental psychology. The principal of her school required that every teacher write a letter to the parents of the children they taught, giving them more information, specifically on how the child was doing in class. She was called into the principal's office, and was informed that her letters were the only ones that the principal didn't have to correct spelling and grammatical errors on. (oops! A dangling participal!)

Mark

[Drango]

informed that her letters were the only ones that the principal didn't have to correct spelling and grammatical errors on. (oops! A dangling participal!)

I'm so sure. like the principle is gonna no what is.

[ffrancone]

A pascal kind of guy, huh?

[John Jorsett]

Susan Fey is "one of us," I believe, which is why she was calling in to a conservative talk show. I note in Khepera's post that the qualification for Option 1 is, "Must be "capable of teaching" and notification is "File an annual affidavit with the county superintendent between October 1 and 15." That must be what Fey was talking about when she said that the state was directing them not to process any more affidavits. (Perhaps she amplified on that, but I wasn't able to take notes fast enough to get all that was said.) It sounds like the state is going to argue that non-certified people aren't "capable of teaching."

[lonestar]

The problem is that they do have teaching credentials, having graduated from a "school of education," however there doesn't seem to be any sort of a requirement that the "teacher" actually understand the topic that they teach.

Many teachers have credentials in a subject other than what they're teaching.

It is possible they have no understanding of either.

BTW, I had an algebra II teacher who had such an understanding of her subject, she couldn't understand that the class didn't understand.

At least that's what I told my parents.

[MarkL]

informed that her letters were the only ones that the principal didn't have to correct spelling and grammatical errors on. (oops! A dangling participal!)

I'm so sure. like the principle is gonna no what is.

Actually, the school is on Long Island, and the principal was also an english teacher before going into administration. She does know her stuff!

My friend, Alyson (I met her when she was a freshman in college) had spent almost her entire life either as a baby sitter or summer camp counsellor (sp? I was a comp sci major), so there was never any doubt in her mind that she was going to be a teacher.

And she really is a wonderful teacher...

Mark

[LiteKeeper]

[Home School Legal Defense Association] HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION


HSLDA News
June 10, 2002

HSLDA Responds to California Superintendent of Public Instruction

Many private schools in California have received a letter from Delaine Eastin, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, explaining certain provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 . This act was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and pursuant to the law, private school students and other eligible private school personnel are entitled to certain benefits.

However, the troubling aspect of the letter pertains to a paragraph where Ms. Eastin opines that home schooling does not qualify as private education in California. She defines home schooling as "a situation where non-credentialed parents teach their own children exclusively, at home, whether using a correspondence course or other types of courses?" She further indicates that a parent's filing of the private school affidavit does not make the private school legal. She cites the court cases People v. Turner and In re Shinn.

First, we would advise any private school not to participate, nor encourage their students to participate and receive government benefits or funds for educational purposes. With money and/or benefits will come control. These controls inevitably limit the freedom that has made home education a successful educational movement.

Secondly, the aspect of the letter alleging that home educating parents must be certified is not a new argument. Since 1993, the California Department of Education (CDE) in much of its communication with individuals inquiring about home education, has stated that home education can be accomplished legally only through the tutorial provision, which is Education Code § 48224. This provision requires that the teacher be certified in the grade level being taught. Obviously, most home educators are not certified and if this were truly the law, it would eliminate most home schooling in California.

The CDE incorrectly bases its position on the two cases mentioned above. In the Shinn case, the court applied the private school exemption to the specific situation in question to determine whether the family who claimed to have established a private school in their home was in compliance with the private school law. The court determined the family was not in compliance because the Shinns weren't actually teaching their children the required subjects. The children were teaching themselves using a correspondence course. So the Shinn case actually supports our position that home education is legal through the private school exemption.

The Turner case was decided by a Los Angeles Superior Court Appellate Department in 1953. The Superior Court Appellate Department applied the "reasonableness" test and concluded that it wasn't reasonable for the state to have to supervise the many small private schools across California. There are three problems with this decision. First, the court was wrong in making the assumption that the state actually supervises private schools. The state has no authority, nor does any local school district have any authority to supervise private schools. Secondly, the affidavit filing requirement pursuant to § 33190 of the Education Code was not in existence when these cases were decided. The private school affidavit is the annual filing requirement for private schools satisfies any concerns about private school oversight being too burdensome for the state. Finally, in 1963 the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Sherbert v. Verner which established that whenever there is a violation of an individual's fundamental right (such as parents' right to educate their children, or the right to free exercise of religion), the compelling state interest/least restrictive balancing test must be applied, rather than the reasonable relationship test.

What this means now is if a home schooling parent was prosecuted for truancy because they were not a certified teacher, the prosecution (the school district) would have to prove that teacher certification is essential to protecting the governmental interest in education. They would have to demonstrate that certification is essential for literacy and self-sufficiency. Quite frankly, that would be impossible in light of the number of illiterates attending and graduating from public school, all taught by certified teachers. Secondly, they would have to demonstrate that certification is the least restrictive way to achieve literacy and self-sufficiency for home educating parents. This would be impossible in light of the fact that 49 other states have less of a qualification requirement than teacher certification and most home schooled students are doing very well. The bottom line is the Turner case no longer has any validity in California.

What does this mean for the future of home education in California? It seems that the CDE is trying to increase the pressure on school districts to deny parents their right to teach their children at home using the private school exemption. We urge our members to continue to operate just as you are.

If you are an HSLDA member and have any problems, let us know immediately. Don't forget to request your private school affidavit in August or early September and file it between October 1st and October 15th. Request the affidavit from the County Office of Education in writing on your private school's letterhead. DO NOT call or go to your County Office of Education in person. If you cannot obtain the affidavit, please call our office.



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[Khepera]

So what I get out of that is there is not a snowballs chance in hell they can win a case like this.

[Drango]

Actually, the school is on Long Island, and the principal was also an english teacher before going into administration. She does know her stuff!

OK...I'm giving up my humor here. Eitheir I'm too stupid, which is my first choice, or youall are too uptight to get it...sigh

[MarkL]

Sorry, my bad... It's been too long a day for me to be doing this...

Mark

[evolved_rage]

Smells like Davis wants to add some over-acheivers from the home-school group to the pitiful results of his state schools to lift his legacy out of 47th place...Little runt.

[BlazingArizona]

If any more Californians want to defect, we'e still got some room in Prescott.

[CARepubGal]

Utah has more regulations on HS'ing than California? Wow! That is a first.

[Khepera]

I'm lucky. I'm in indiana and the only thing we have to do is report the number of days attended and how many children and what grades they are in.

We only have to do that if they ask. They never ask.

[CyberAnt]

You need to resend your message to every poster on this thread. I don't think some of them got it. I mean, as soon as Susan started reading it, the word "DIRECTIVE" hit me. A directive is nothing more than a "suggestion" - it's NOT A LAW!! Please, take the tame and repost to everyone. Thanks.

[CyberAnt]

tame = time

;^)

[Lizavetta]

Of course, here in California there's a huge homeschooling population that doesn't follow any of the requirements. They simply homeschool and ignore the law. They don't file the R4, they don't notify anybody, they don't test, and the state can go pound sand. These people are simply invisible and don't exist in "the system". Neighbors and friends just assume that if they're homeschooling, they're doing it the legal way. A friend of mine about 5 years ago was told by a higher-up in her school district that even if homeschooling was made illegal, it would be a minimum of 2 years before any official would show up on her doorstep. Their plate is too full to go after them.

[WindMinstrel]

does AM600 have an internet feed of its coverage?

[ladylib]

I wonder if this is in response to James Dobson's and Laura Schlessinger's views about getting your kids out of the government schools? Maybe the public school authorities in CA are afraid many, many people are going to take Dobson's suggestion. This will wind up in court, which just might be a good thing. I'm under the impression that the authorities would prefer it not winding up in court. They would just like to pick off homeschoolers one at a time. District attorneys don't like these cases because the law is vague about private school status. The CA Ed Department's directive is only their interpretation of the law.

[Khepera]

Fight the law and then if they win their lawsuit move or ignore the law. I'm not putting my kids in public hell no matter what the law says.