I'm a homeschooled high-school sophomore, concurrently enrolled at a local community college taking advanced math classes. My Calculus instructor asked me to take a job as a supplemental instruction next year for his Calc 1 class, not knowing that I was in high-school. When I told him that I was still only 15 (I would be 16 by the time the job actually started), he said that he would try to figure out a way to make it work still, but after talking to the top person in the hiring chain, was told that I could not take the job before graduating high-school. When I asked if it was a school regulation, he said that it was California state law that prohibited me from taking the job.
This seems strange to me, because according to all the research that I've done, if I can get a working permit, I should be allowed to work even during school hours up to 4 hours a day once I am 16. It doesn't make sense that I would have to have a high-school diploma before I can get a job.
So my question is, is there some specific restriction that applies because I am concurrently enrolled, or is their simply some misunderstanding either on my part or on the part of the school? If I get a chance to talk to someone on the hiring chain, what should I tell them, I don't want to act like I know more about employment law than them, but it seems like what they told my instructor does not fit with everything I've read.