Home-schooling ruling could affect thousands

After treating patients for 15 years, Kathy Adams Morgan hung up her stethoscope to educate her daughter full time at their Point Loma home.
 
Eight years later, Morgan has no regrets. It's easy to see why.
 
At 13, Jenny scores high on standardized tests and balances academics with organized sports, Girl Scouts, dance – and the ever-important teenage social life.
 
But according to a recent state appellate court ruling, it is illegal for Morgan – and the thousands of California parents who home-school their children – to teach without credentials.
 
“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 2nd District Court of Appeal.
 
The ruling has rattled home-school families in San Diego County and throughout California. It is the subject of much speculation on the blogs, Web sites and networks that link thousands of home-schoolers statewide.
 
However, many parents, educators and even lawyers are unsure exactly what the decision means. No one predicts an imminent change for home-schoolers.
 
“We all take our liberties for granted,” Morgan said. “I couldn't imagine not being able to have the option of home schooling.”
 
It's unclear how many children are home-schooled in California, but estimates range from 100,000 to 200,000. In San Diego County, educators and home-school networks surmise that as many as 4,000 students get their educations at home.
 
Many of them are enrolled in independent study programs through school districts, charter schools or private schools. For instance, Jenny Morgan takes some classes, including high school French, and exams at Mt. Everest Academy, a public school that supports home-schoolers in San Diego.
 
Other students are taught at home under the direction of a parent.
 
Home schooling in California has been permitted if parents exempt their child from from public school by filing a private school affidavit, which essentially establishes their home as a school; hires a credentialed tutor; or enrolls their child in an independent study program run by an established school while teaching at home.
 
Many parents like the flexibility of home schooling and fear that strict laws may come from the ruling.