Can someone explain why this office even exists?

Jack O'Connell can overpower an appeals court, notes today's Roundup. It's true!

"Countering a potentially precedent-setting appeals court decision that bars parents from educating their children at home if they lack teaching credentials, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell on Tuesday affirmed families' right to home school," writes Seema Mehta in the Times.

"'There's no cause for alarm,' he said Tuesday.

"'I want to assure parents that chose to home school that California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling,' he said in a written statement. 'Parents still have the right to home school in our state.'

So, if you're keeping score at home, apparently the state superintendent can simply ignore the state appeals court.

Wow, you're totally protected from losing the fundamentalist parent vote, Mr. O'Connell. I'm sure you, as a Democrat, had a lot to fear on this subject area.

And should the guy who is in charge of - well, wait, is he in charge of it? who is? anyway - be avidly insisting parents can keep their kids OUT of it? In fact, doesn't he have more to fear - politically - than pissing off parents?

Like what about pissing off CTA? 'Cause that can't be good.

Of course, the above is a bit of a choosy representation of the whole story:

The state Department of Education now allows home schooling as long as parents file paperwork with the state establishing themselves as private schools, hire credentialed tutors or enroll their children in independent study programs run by charter or private schools or public school districts while still teaching at home.

The education department does little to enforce those provisions and insists that it is the local school districts' responsibility. In addition, state education officials acknowledge that some parents home school their children without the knowledge of any educational entity.

O'Connell repeatedly refused Tuesday to rule out requiring parents to enroll their children in a formal program.

So what O'Connell is really saying - against a backdrop of lax enforcement - is that it's just business as usual.

I think we should pare down the total number of constitutionals in the state.