(03-07) 04:00 PST LOS ANGELES --
A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling
by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the
state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible
truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.
The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.
"At first, there was a sense of, 'No way,' " said homeschool parent
Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who
is active with a homeschool association. "Then there was a little bit
of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation."
The ruling arose from a child welfare dispute between the Los
Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Philip
and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have been homeschooling their eight
children. Mary Long is their teacher, but holds no teaching credential.
The parents said they also enrolled their children in Sunland
Christian School, a private religious academy in Sylmar (Los Angeles
County), which considers the Long children part of its independent
study program and visits the home about four times a year.
The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law
requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private
schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home.
Some homeschoolers are affiliated with private or charter schools,
like the Longs, but others fly under the radar completely. Many
homeschooling families avoid truancy laws by registering with the state
as a private school and then enroll only their own children.
Yet the appeals court said state law has been clear since at least
1953, when another appellate court rejected a challenge by
homeschooling parents to California's compulsory education statutes.
Those statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day
school, either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who
holds a state credential for the child's grade level.
"California courts have held that ... parents do not have a
constitutional right to homeschool their children," Justice H. Walter
Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal
duty to see to their children's schooling under the provisions of these
laws."
Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.
"A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school
children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and
the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare," the judge
wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.
Union pleased with ruling
The ruling was applauded by a director for the state's largest teachers union.
"We're happy," said Lloyd Porter, who is on the California Teachers
Association board of directors. "We always think students should be
taught by credentialed teachers, no matter what the setting."
A spokesman for the state Department of Education said the agency
is reviewing the decision to determine its impact on current policies
and procedures. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack
O'Connell issued a statement saying he supports "parental choice when
it comes to homeschooling."
Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which agreed
earlier this week to represent Sunland Christian School and legally
advise the Long family on a likely appeal to the state Supreme Court,
said the appellate court ruling has set a precedent that can now be
used to go after homeschoolers. "With this case law, anyone in
California who is homeschooling without a teaching credential is
subject to prosecution for truancy violation, which could require
community service, heavy fines and possibly removal of their children
under allegations of educational neglect," Dacus said.
Parents say they choose homeschooling for a variety of reasons,
from religious beliefs to disillusionment with the local public schools.
Homeschooling parent Debbie Schwarzer of Los Altos said she's ready for a fight.
Schwarzer runs Oak Hill Academy out of her Santa Clara County home.
It is a state-registered private school with two students, she said,
noting they are her own children, ages 10 and 12. She does not have a
teaching credential, but she does have a law degree.
"I'm kind of hoping some truancy officer shows up on my doorstep," she said. "I'm ready. I have damn good arguments."
She opted to teach her children at home to better meet their needs.
The ruling, Schwarzer said, "stinks."
Began as child welfare case
The Long family legal battle didn't start out as a test case on the validity of homeschooling. It was a child welfare case.
A juvenile court judge looking into one child's complaint of
mistreatment by Philip Long found that the children were being poorly
educated but refused to order two of the children, ages 7 and 9, to be
enrolled in a full-time school. He said parents in California have a
right to educate their children at home.
The appeals court told the juvenile court judge to require the
parents to comply with the law by enrolling their children in a school,
but excluded the Sunland Christian School from enrolling the children
because that institution "was willing to participate in the deprivation
of the children's right to a legal education."
The decision could also affect other kinds of homeschooled children,
including those enrolled in independent study or distance learning
through public charter schools - a setup similar to the one the Longs
have, Dacus said.
Charter school advocates disagreed, saying Thursday that charter
schools are public and are required to employ only credentialed
teachers to supervise students - whether in class or through
independent study.
Ruling will apply statewide
Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense
Association, said the ruling would effectively ban homeschooling in the
state.
"California is now on the path to being the only state to deny the
vast majority of homeschooling parents their fundamental right to teach
their own children at home," he said in a statement.
But Leslie Heimov, executive director of the Children's Law Center
of Los Angeles, which represented the Longs' two children in the case,
said the ruling did not change the law.
"They just affirmed that the current California law, which has been
unchanged since the last time it was ruled on in the 1950s, is that
children have to be educated in a public school, an accredited private
school, or with an accredited tutor," she said. "If they want to send
them to a private Christian school, they can, but they have to actually
go to the school and be taught by teachers."
Heimov said her organization's chief concern was not the quality of
the children's education, but their "being in a place daily where they
would be observed by people who had a duty to ensure their ongoing
safety."
Online resources
The ruling: To view the ruling by the Second District Court of Appeal, go to links.sfgate.com/ZCQR.
E-mail the writers at begelko@sfchronicle.com and jtucker@sfchronicle.com.
