Court ruling rattles many homeschool supporters
Educators concerned over decision requiring parents who teach at home to have credentials
By Dana Hull
03/09/2008
Edwina Cirelli and her husband teach at local schools. But the Vallejo parents homeschool their youngest children, ages 17, 12 and 10.
"As an educator, I firmly believe in individualized education," said Cirelli, who teaches at Pathways Charter School in Benicia. "Both my husband and I were drawn to the relationship we saw homeschooling parents have with their children."
But it's not a bond that should require a state teaching credential, Cirelli said, referring to last week's ruling by a three-member panel in Los Angeles that parents who homeschool their children must have such a credential.
The court ruling could affect an estimated thousands of homeschool students in Solano County, many of whom are outraged by the decision.
Although the ruling probably will be put on hold during an appeal to the state Supreme Court, it could put a damper on the increasingly popular phenomenon of parents keeping their kids out of schools to teach them themselves.
The ruling has angered and confused tens of thousands of parents who are part of the state's vast and diverse home-schooling community.
If the decision is upheld,
California would become the only state in the nation to require parents who educate their children at home to have a teaching credential.
The court case centers on a Southern California couple who homeschooled their eight children through the Sunland Christian School in Sylmar. The family came to the attention of Los Angeles County social workers when one of the children claimed the father was physically abusive. The workers learned that all eight children in the family were homeschooled, and an attorney representing the two youngest children asked the juvenile dependency court to order that they be enrolled in public or private school as a way to protect their well-being.
Homeschool advocates blasted the Feb. 28 decision, written by Justice
H. Walter Croskey of the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
"I'm sure there are a few isolated cases like the alleged one at the center of this court decision, but they are few and far between," said Becky Purdy, a Benicia resident who has home-schooled her two children for nine years. "From what I've experienced, parents that choose to homeschool their children want the best for their children."
As a published decision, the appellate court ruling sets precedent throughout California, although in the short term it handed down orders only in the Los Angeles case and is unlikely to force other school districts to make immediate changes to their policies. Other state appellate courts could still weigh in with differing opinions, and the California Supreme Court would have the last word - unless the Legislature decides to act.
"The ability to homeschool freely in California should not depend upon one family in a closed-door proceeding," said the Home School Legal Defense Association, which plans to support the Los Angeles family's appeal to the state's highest court.
Exact statistics on how many students are homeschooled in California are hard to compile, but advocates put the number at between 150,000 and 200,000. The state Department of Education uses a more conservative figure of 50,000 to 100,000.
[How can this be? How can there be two differing estimates that aren't within FIFTY THOUSAND of each other?]
Some parents homeschool for religious reasons, but others turn to home-schooling out of concerns over campus safety, peer pressure and the increasing focus on standardized tests. Others believe they can offer their children an education superior to what public and even private schools provide.
"I think the reason the state is challenging homeschooling is because homeschooling is challenging the state," said Kelli Orona of Vallejo, who home-schooled her two daughters, now adults.
[Exactly. Homeschooling is revolutionary. If you don't need public schools, what other government functions don't you need?]
Orona said homeschool students are often recruited by good colleges and universities.
Cirelli said her 17-year-old daughter takes classes at Solano Community College and will earn her associate's degree before many graduate from high school.
Purdy said she and her husband started to homeschool their children when they were ages 5 and 7.
"My husband used to travel a lot with his job and we wanted to tag along," said Purdy, a Benicia resident. "It seemed natural to homeschool so we could go with him. We were able to take our kids to so many wonderful places."
Purdy's children are 14 and 16 now. They both spend time with friends and doing extra-curricular activities, she said.
"A common misconception of home-schooling is that the children are socially isolated," Purdy said. "If anything, they have more flexibility with their schedules."
There are various ways to homeschool in California. Parents can file paperwork with the state establishing their home as a small private school, hire a credentialed tutor to educate their children, or enroll their children in independent study programs that are overseen by either charter schools or local school districts.
The school districts provide oversight. In Vallejo, for example, credentialed teachers help parents plan lessons, go over course work, provide instructional materials, guide curriculum and administer annual tests to independent-study children.
E-mail Tony Burchyns at
[email protected] or call 553-6831.
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