New York should revise educational policies that ‘kill innovation,’ commentary argues

Jailed for teaching children in small groups?

As Orwellian as it sounds, such a scenario is already written into New York’s law – where homeschool parents are forbidden to provide group teaching “for a majority of the instructional program,” according to the state’s education department.

“Homeschooling is legal in New York, but the state blocks neighbors from banding together,” notes the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm, in a recent commentary published by the Times Union. 

“It takes a village to raise a child, but not more than half of each week. If homeschool parents cross this line, they can receive warnings, fines or even 30 days behind bars.” 

Pandemic spurred ‘innovation frenzy’ 

Until the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents had considered only private or public schools the only educational options available for their children. 

However, the lockdowns spurred “an innovation frenzy” as families began experimenting with nontraditional learning groups and alternatives. 

“Some families pooled their resources and hired outside instructors,” the institute notes. “Other groups rotated teaching duties among themselves or designated host parents. Hybrid models also emerged.” 

An estimated 3% of all U.S. school-age children – approximately 1.5 million – attend these groups today, according to research from the National Microschooling Center. 

However, such educational solutions face an uphill battle in the Empire State because of its current homeschool laws. 

“If regulators decide a learning community looks too much like a traditional school, they can crush the initiative with a long list of bureaucratic demands: fire inspections, evacuation drills and lockdown drills,” the institute writes. 

“This is how you kill innovation.” 

How microschools can help 

In contrast, outcomes from three other states – Florida, Georgia and Utah – demonstrate how more relaxed legal environments can help creative educators thrive. 

“One career educator in Sarasota, Florida, leased a vacant day care center in the middle of a government housing project and opened a tiny kindergarten,” the institute explains. “Another career educator opened a microschool in Atlanta for students from vulnerable and marginalized communities. And in Utah, a nonprofit organization set up a microschool on a farm for rural children.” 

While these programs flourish elsewhere, New York’s existing bureaucratic framework hampers similar alternatives by requiring them to follow regulations meant for bigger organizations, the law firm argues. 

“To avoid punishment, the founders would have to jump through hoops designed for much larger institutions. Microschools, which often cap enrollment between 10 and 50 students, rarely can survive under this weight.” 

Even if most families continue to opt for traditional learning models, “grassroots competition” from educational alternatives can help the beleaguered state regain academic standing and spur reform, the institute concludes. 

“Microschools might never disrupt the industry the way automobiles replaced horse-drawn carriages. Public, private and homeschools are probably safe. But small-scale collaboration can fill a niche, providing a fourth educational category for parents to consider.”