So would private tutoring be technically illegal in CA?
No, the law at issue (as stated in the document mischaracterized upthread) restricts only “private postsecondary education”.
The applicable definition of “postsecondary education” is at Cal.Ed.Code § 94857:
“Postsecondary education” means a formal institutional educational program whose curriculum is designed primarily for students who have completed or terminated their secondary education or are beyond the compulsory age of secondary education, including programs whose purpose is academic, vocational, or continuing professional education.
https://codes.findlaw.com/ca/education-code/edc-sect-94857.h...
Private tutoring is not within it's scope (private tutoring at the elementary/secondary level that is used as an alternative to mandatory schooling or parent howmschooling is regulated in CA by a different law, but that's only when it is taking the place of mandatory schooling, not supplementing it or serving unrelated functions.)
Note that Lambda School's lawyer interpreted the law the same way you'd like to -- Lambda School doesn't have a physical presence in California because it doesn't operate any classrooms. But the state felt differently.
And the state is pretty unambiguously correct on this point -- Lambda School is apparently incorporated in California as Lambda Inc. with a business address of 921 Crescent Court, San Ramon, CA 94582.
( https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/1574959D:US )
Fascinatingly, they seem to have been incorporated in 1983.
> Lambda, Inc. of California, doing business as Lambda School, operates as a school. The School offers course such as computer science, software engineering, machine learning, web developing, and java script learning programs. Lambda School serves clients in the State of California.
> SUB-INDUSTRY
> Educational Services
> WEBSITE
> www.lambdaschool.com
So far so good.
The address does appear to be wrong, judging by the entry for "LAMBDA INC. WHICH WILL DO BUSINESS IN CALIFORNIA AS LAMBDA SCHOOL" at https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/
But,
> Entity Address:
> 5820 STONERIDGE MALL RD STE 212 PLEASANTON CA 94588
sure seems to suggest that you've got a physical presence in California.
I was under the impression that extant businesses have some value purely for their history of being extant businesses, and are sometimes bought and sold for that reason, so it didn't seem impossible that Lambda School was technically the reimagining of some now-dead shell corporation founded in 1983.
Bloomberg's phone number for Lambda School appears to be right, or at least appears to be a phone number once controlled by an Austen Allred in his capacity as executive officer of a company in Utah. Now I'm pretty curious where the Bloomberg information comes from.