Regulation of Private Schools and Home Instruction Debbie A. Helm

Pierce v. Society of Sisters established the precedence for laws regarding compulsory attendance. Parents/Guardians had the freedom of choice to decide where their children receive their education. Public or Private State’s still had different law regarding the regulation and supervision of those facilities What part does the state play when regulating the education received in private schools?

Regulations May Include Vary by State  Accreditation / Curriculum Approval  Teacher Certification  Attendance Information  State Testing

Farrington v. Tokushige 1926 (Americanize) Hawaii was trying to regulate the Japanese foreign language schools Conflicts: -Teachers possess ideals of democracy -Knowledge of American History -Fluent in English -Restrict Hours, Entrance Requirements, & PrescribeTextbooks

Home Instruction  Many States adopted laws that allow homeschooling

Statues May Include:  Home Program to be equivalent to that offered in a public school  Student participation and min. requirements in standardized testing  Minimum # of yearly hours of instruction  Submission of Lesson Plans (attend. records, curriculum req. )  Minimum academic requirements for parents

Courts Cases  1982 Grigg v. Virginia  Virginia required to home school instruction to be delivered by a teacher certified guardian. Private schools did not have to meet those same requirements.

Michigan Supreme Court 1993 Supreme Court did not uphold teaching certification for home school parents who had objected to this requirement based on religious grounds

Null v Board of Ed (WVA-(1993)  Children were deemed ineligible for homeschooling if standardized test scores fell below the 40 percentile & did not improve

Brunell v Lynn Public Schools (1998) Required visits to the homes by the school superintendent to validate the home education program