What is the Substitute Authorization?
The Substitute Authorization is a designation created a number of years ago that allows a person with a baccalaureate degree (or a paraprofessional certificate) to substitute teach in a middle school, junior high or high school for a maximum of 5 days per assignment.Although it would seem at first that this does not relate to home educators, it does indeed, as we have verified that the Department of Education approves the use of a substitute authorization in place of a regular teacher’s license (either initial, standard, master’s, or substitute) in privately-funded home schools.To put it simply, if you have a four-year college degree, and you’re willing to “jump through the required hoops” to obtain a substitute authorization, you can be your own child’s (or other people’s children’s) supervising teacher. This is true only if the supervision is done outside of the public school system.
