Homeschooling In California: For Now, It's Protected, and No Need for Parental Educational Credentials, but There's More to Come

In February, as part of a child-abuse case involving home-school children, Justice H. Walter Croskey found that parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children, and ruled that parents wishing to homeschool must hold a valid California teaching credential.

In March, the Second District Court of Appeals (a three-judge panel)  hinted at a re-evaluation of its entire Feb. 28 ruling by inviting written arguments from state and local education officials and teachers' unions.

Today, the California appellate court  ordered the trial court (which I believe is a juvenile dependency court) to reconsider the issue of whether parents who home-school their children must have a teaching credential.

The new decision from the 2nd District Court of Appeal says California law permits home schooling, but that the permission can be overridden when a court has determined that the safety of a child is at issue.

In July, the juvenile dependency court case that gave rise to in re Rachel L. was dismissed.

 I'm neither for nor against homeschooling.  It depends upon the parents and the quality of the program.  There's more to come in this story.

Findlaw: In Re Rachel L.

Bad Cases Make Bad Law: Homeschoolling Parents in California Require Teaching Credential (March 6 2008)

California Homeschooling Parents May Not Need a Credential After All (March 27, 2008)

Comments

[hall monitor]

This story made http://detentionslip.org! Voted #1 for school house news.