Hey Teacher! Don't Leave Those Kids at Home.

Katherine Mangu-Ward | March 6, 2008

California's 166,000 homeschoolers woke up last Friday to discover they were leading a life of crime:

"Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey in a Feb. 28 opinion signed by the two other members of the district court.

California's home school policy was blurry and essentially unwritten until now, since the law simply states that all school age kids must attend a full time private or public school, or have a tutor with an formal teaching degree. Homeschoolers filed a little paperwork with the state education department, sometimes dealt with the local school district, and were mostly left to their own devices.

No one's going to wind up in the hoosegow for at home Bible study until after an appeal to the state supreme court is complete, but homeschoolers are, understandably, freaking out.

Naturally, teachers unions love it:

Teachers union officials will also be closely monitoring the appeal. A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said he agrees with the ruling.

"What's best for a child is to be taught by a credentialed teacher," he said.

The second in this week's "we don't need no education" series of blog posts.