No End Seen to Flap Over Calif. Home School Policy

By Mary Ann Zehr

Scores of California home schooling parents defied the instructions of the state schools chief and filed affidavits this month with the state education department saying that they are running private schools.

Advocacy groups for home schooling had encouraged parents to file the affidavits, even though Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin reiterated in July her position that home schooling parents who do not have teaching credentials are operating "outside of the law," and are not operating valid private schools.

Home schooling parents, who note that California law doesn't require teachers at private schools to have teaching credentials, maintain that they can operate under the "private school" provision in state law. The parents' action is the latest twist in a running dispute over how the state defines and treats families who school...