According to a nationally representative EdChoice poll, learning pods have quickly gained popularity. Some 35% of parents claim they currently participate in a learning pod, and 18% of parents said that they are looking to join one.
At the same time, about 70% of surveyed teachers showed interest in teaching a learning pod. Notably, charter school teachers were twice as likely to show interest in teaching or tutoring a pod as did district school teachers.
As pods gained traction, they also attracted the attention of government officials, especially as many district schools reported declining enrollments this fall.
As a result, 19 states have either imposed new or expanded regulations that can negatively affect families’ access to learning pods.
In a recent analysis for the State Policy Network, The Heritage Foundation’s Jonathan Butcher identified states that are attempting to regulate learning pods and explained how regulations can hurt families’ access to them.
For instance, district teachers in Virginia’s Fairfax County are prohibited from tutoring “children for private compensation if the same children are receiving instruction from them in [Fairfax County Public Schools].”
Ten states have imposed especially draconian regulations on learning pods, often classifying them as a type of day care.
Illinois, for example, encouraged pod families to obtain child care licenses, which require families to show medical examinations, proof of college coursework in early-childhood development, an affidavit that participating families do not owe child support, proof of at least 15 hours of required pre-service training on specific topics, and Illinois Gateways Registry membership, to name just some of the requirements.
Similarly, Broward County, Florida, the sixth-largest school district in the nation, released a memo requiring pods to become licensed. Other state agencies seek to regulate pods through zoning laws or limiting pod size.
