Homeschooling in California

The discovery of the conditions that 13 children of a Perris, CA couple were living in has raised questions about the lack of oversight of homeschooling in California.  The children of David and Louise Turpin ranged in age from 2 to 29, but all appeared to be minors due to stunted growth and malnourishment.

The parents had homeschooled their children and the calls for stricter oversight of homeschooled children are coming from all quarters.  A L.A. Times editorial published today (January 18, 2018) claims that a "reasonable, non-bureaucratic set of rules" might look like this:

"Annual inspections by school districts, reimbursed by the state, to ensure that students are learning in a basically decent environment. The inspectors would interview students privately so that they could feel safe talking about any abuse and would review the educational plan and a portfolio of the student’s work to see whether the parents are actually teaching."

That is actually a decent starting point.  But before we delve into what level of oversight is required, and what factors drive the need for oversight, let's look at how easy it is to begin homeschooling your kids in California.  Here is the affidavit that is the only paperwork needed to comply with current state law.  

Then there is the fact that homeschooling is actually an industry in California.  There are a number of charter schools that work with parents engaged in homeschooling, to comply with state requirements.  And to get their hands on state funds.  

The National Education Association's 2016 report says that California's per pupil spending was $10,329.  That ranked the state 26th in the nation.  Where does that money go in the case of homeschooled students who aren't part of the cottage industry in charter schools enrolling these homeschooled students?  Good question.  Better question is, where did the funding for the four or five school-age children among the 13 victims in Perris?

Just how many children are homeschooled in California?  California's population is around 36 million.  Conservative estimates are that 15% of that population is in the age range where they would be enrolled K-12.  That's 5,400,000.  The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) estimates that 3.4% of the school-age population is homeschooled, nationwide.  I'm going to estimate that 4% of the school-age population in CA is homeschooled and that's over 200,000 students.  If you multiply the per-pupil spending by the estimated number of homeschooled students in California, we're looking at over $2 billion.

Oversight of homeschooled children is therefore not just about preventing more incidents like what happened in Perris.  The reality is that there are not large numbers of parents using homeschooling as a way to avoid scrutiny of how they are abusing their children.  At the same time we need to ensure that homeschool operations are subjected to a concordant amount of scrutiny as public and private schools are.

You want to work at a public or private school; in any capacity, and you have to undergo fingerprinting, a criminal background check, TB testing and more.  School facilities are subject to a higher level of safety requirements than homes where children are homeschooled are.  So something more than what currently exists needs to be implemented without being overly intrusive into a person's residence.

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The finance piece is also worthy of additional scrutiny.  How much money does a charter school get to keep for being the "face" of a homeschool facility?  Thousands of dollars that pads their budget?  

Private school is a choice.  A choice that parents need to bear the expense of.  Homeschooling is a similar choice.  The parents that choose to homeschool should not be getting government funding to offset those expenses.  The public school system is available to them and if they choose to spurn it, they are assuming the expense of educating their children.

Make them pay for that choice.