The Author of AB-84 (the homeschool killer bill) is Running for Superintendent of CA Public Schools-REALLY?

I don't usually write about politics.

Most days, my focus is on helping a struggling reader decode a new word, supporting a family through an IEP meeting, guiding homeschooling parents through curriculum choices, or celebrating a student's hard-earned success. Politics rarely enters the conversation.

But sometimes education and politics collide in a way that is simply too important to ignore. This is one of those moments. Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, author of AB 84, is now running to become California's next Superintendent of Public Instruction. The irony is difficult to miss.

At a time when homeschooling continues to grow across California, when charter homeschool programs are filled to capacity, when thousands of students sit on waitlists for homeschool charter programs, when PSA are ever-increasing throughout the greater Sacramento region, and when families are actively seeking educational alternatives, one of the most visible education bills in recent years was authored by a candidate whose legislation was viewed by many homeschooling and charter families as a direct threat to educational choice.

Whether you supported AB 84 or opposed it, the grassroots response was impossible to ignore. Parents mobilized. Homeschool organizations mobilized.

Charter school families mobilized. Families wrote letters, attended hearings, contacted legislators, and spoke out in large numbers. The response wasn't orchestrated by a political machine. It came from parents.

And perhaps that is what makes this moment so fascinating. AB 84 may have been intended as a charter accountability bill, but it became something much larger. It became a referendum on whether California's education leadership truly understands where families are today.

California Families Are Sending a Message

For years, families have been voting with their feet. Homeschooling has experienced remarkable growth throughout California. Researchers have documented significant increases in homeschool enrollment over the past decade, and that growth accelerated following the pandemic. That growth did not happen by accident. Parents are making intentional choices. Some are leaving because their children have learning differences that are not being adequately supported. Some are seeking smaller learning environments. Some are looking for flexibility. Some want stronger academics. Some want more family involvement. Many simply want educational options that recognize that children learn differently. The reasons vary, but the trend is undeniable.

Meanwhile, homeschool charter programs throughout California continue to experience extraordinary demand. In the greater Sacramento region, families routinely encounter waitlists, enrollment caps, and limited availability despite the growing number of students seeking these programs. This is not the behavior of families abandoning education. It is the behavior of families actively pursuing educational environments that better meet their children's needs.

Politics Is About Reading the Room

Leadership requires intelligence. Leadership requires experience. Leadership requires vision. But perhaps most importantly, leadership requires the ability to read the room. The response to AB 84 suggested that a significant number of California families feel disconnected from the people making educational decisions on their behalf. Not because families oppose accountability. Not because families oppose public education. But because many families believe the current system is not adequately serving all learners. Parents are asking for educational flexibility. Parents are asking for meaningful choice. Parents are asking for individualized learning opportunities. Parents are asking for innovation.

Parents are asking for systems that recognize children are not identical and should not be educated as though they are. These are not fringe ideas anymore. They are mainstream concerns. The political energy surrounding AB 84 demonstrated exactly that.

The irony is that politics is often about reading the room, and AB 84 suggests that Assemblymember Muratsuchi has badly misread the climate then and NOW. At a time when homeschooling is growing, charter homeschool programs are overflowing with demand, microschools are emerging, learning pods are thriving, and parents are increasingly seeking alternatives to traditional educational models, California families were not asking for more restrictions.

They were asking for more options.

What I See at My Learning Farm

Over the past six years, I have had the privilege of working with hundreds of students and families. I have sat across from parents whose children were struggling in traditional educational environments—not because they lacked intelligence, but because the system lacked flexibility.

I have watched families spend months researching options, joining waitlists, attending charter information nights, comparing programs, and building educational plans tailored to their children. These families are not running away from education. They are running toward it. They are deeply invested in their children's futures. They are some of the most engaged educational advocates I have ever met. Many are sacrificing time, income, convenience, and certainty because they believe there is a better path for their child. That deserves respect.

What California Really Needs

California does not need another caretaker of the status quo. California needs a builder. We need someone willing to acknowledge that many parts of our educational system are outdated. We need someone who understands the Science of Reading and evidence-based literacy instruction. We need someone who understands dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADHD, autism, and the countless ways children learn differently. We need someone who wants to reduce bureaucracy instead of adding more of it. We need someone who wants to recruit and retain great teachers. We need someone who supports smaller class sizes. We need someone who believes teachers should have flexibility and professional judgment. We need someone who wants educators spending more time teaching children and less time navigating paperwork, compliance requirements, assessments, and mandates.

And while we're at it, we need credential programs that do a better job teaching future educators how children actually learn. Understanding reading development, language acquisition, executive functioning, learning differences, and evidence-based instructional practices should not be optional knowledge.

Most importantly, we need someone who understands that the purpose of education is not to preserve systems. The purpose of education is to help children learn. Those are two very different goals.

The Lesson of AB 84

Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that AB 84 may have accomplished something its supporters never intended. It exposed just how large, organized, passionate, and engaged California's homeschooling and educational choice communities have become. For years, many policymakers treated homeschooling as a niche movement.

Today, that assumption is increasingly difficult to defend. The families have spoken. The growth numbers speak. The waitlists speak. The demand speaks.

And the response to AB 84 spoke loudly.

The question California voters should ask themselves is simple:

Do we want an education leader who sees these families as a problem to solve?

Or do we want an education leader who sees them as partners in building the future of education?