Home Schooling is Pushed into the Spotlight by Covid-19

As the lockdowns continue and students are confined to their homes, the only form of schooling currently available to students in many parts of the world is online. This has pushed online education into the spotlight at a time when there are battles taking place over the future of home schooling.

As this article from the Foundation for Economic Education highlights, there has been an outcry over a Harvard Law School professor’s call for a “presumptive ban” on homeschooling and a conference is scheduled at Harvard Kennedy School:

Harvard Kennedy School To Host Conference Addressing the Campaign against Homeschooling Rights

At the same time, in California, Assembly Bill 2990 proposes to restrict educational enrichment activities to vendors vetted and approved by the local education and would further require the local educational agency to certify that vendor services for educational enrichment activities meet designated criteria.

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 2990

This battle in California pits homeschool charters and parents against the state legislators who are looking to control where state funds paid to charter schools are directed and can be used.

The future of online schooling from home will be affected by these and other fights taking place across the country, and across the world. The Covid-19 lockdown will have long-lasting effects on education, and let’s hope people will realize the value of online education as we move through the 2020’s and beyond.