Because of this threat of diminished state aid, some superintendents engage parents in lawsuits in an attempt to stop the flow of students from their school districts. Proponents, on the other hand, claim that many children in home schools have experienced dramatic improvement in reading and other basic skills. The absence of professional distance also is cited as a plus for home schooling. Proponents of home schools also stress the possibilities for testing new theories and formulas for teaching. They point out that, due to numerous legal strictures and cost and time inflexibility, new theories are difficult to implement in public school systems.
Laws applying to home instruction vary considerably from state to state.
But public school adminstrators would be wise to refrain from prosecuting home-schooling families. The school districts lose in the majority of such cases. Lines stresses the need for school districts and school administrators to work with, and not against, home-schooling families. She points out that such cooperation requires new laws and regulations. Value Conflict Between American Families and American Schools.