Running Head: INDIVIDUAL PAPER ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: TEACHING V.
Individual paper on Constitutional Law: Teaching V. Home schooling
Can a parent illegally home school their child? Yes, according to a recent ruling by a California appeals court. This current ruling is leaving an estimated 166,000 children in the state of California as a probable truant in addition causes their parents the risk and possibility of being prosecuted under the law. The home schooling movement never saw this case coming…or did they?
This recent ruling came from a welfare case between Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, California and the County of Los Angles California. Mrs. Long, the mother, is their educator, but does not hold a valid teaching credential. The Longs have enrolled their children into Sunland Christian School, in L.A. County. By doing this the Longs, children are considered to be apart of its independent study program. Representatives come from Sunland Christian School come to visits the Longs at home every three months during the year. This current act allows the Longs to home school their children, or so they thought.
The District Court of Appeal recent ruling found that under state law parents are required to send their students to a permanent private or public school or have them educated by means of an instructor with the proper degree in the privacy of their own home. Several home schooled children are connected with charter schools or private, like the Longs situation, but others are not. Many home schooling families bypass “truancy laws” (Egelko & Tucker, 2008, p. 7) by telling and manipulating the state that they are functioning privately then only enrolling their personal students. However, an appellate court recently stated that the state l ...