California
Innocent Till Proven Truant
Each year, a number of school districts in the Golden State try to exert more authority than the law gives them over home schoolers. For example, this year, the Riverside County Department of Education again sent its standard letter along with the private school affidavit and the “Summary of California Laws Relating to Establishment and Maintenance of Private Schools and Kindergarten, Elementary and High School Grades,” prepared by the legal department of the California Department of Education.
This summary always brings questions from alert Home School Legal Defense Association members. Specifically, members ask our office about the summary’s assertion that children enrolled in private schools are exempt from public school attendance only after verification by the attendance supervisor of the district that the private school has complied with the provisions of California Education Code § 33190. The summary seems to imply that children enrolled in private schools are assumed truant until the filing of the private school affidavit is verified by a public school official. This is not true.
It is true that if there is a legitimate question whether a child is truant, the public school official, upon being told that the child is enrolled in a private school, must verify the filing of the affidavit. However, if the official verifies that the affidavit has been filed with the county superintendent of schools, and ultimately with the superintendent of public instruction, the child is deemed excused from public school attendance, and, therefore, not truant.
Some school districts have tried to expand their authority by alleging that part of the verification process includes making sure that the home school maintains all the records private schools are required to keep. This is an incorrect interpretation of the law. The Education Code at § 48222 provides that “The verification required by this section (48222) shall not be construed as an evaluation, recognition, approval or endorsement of any private school or course.” Therefore, the public school does not have the authority to evaluate whether or not a private school is in compliance with the private school requirements contained in the education code.
It is important that our member families and all home schoolers in California who are not certified teachers complying with the tutorial exemption recognize that home education is accomplished via the private school exemption. In order to be a bona fide private school, the private school affidavit must be filed between October 1 and 15. This affidavit filing must be verified by a public school official when there is an issue regarding the truancy of a child in attendance in the family’s private school.
California is one of 12 states where home schooling is legal through the private school exemption.
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California
Admitted to statehood:
September 9, 1850
Origin of name:
Bestowed by the Spanish conquistadors (possibly Cortez), it was the name of an imaginary island, paradise in Las Serges de Esplandian, a Spanish romance written by Garci Ordonez de Montalvo in 1510. Baha California (lower California, in Mexico) was first visited by the Spanish in 1533. The present U.S. state was called Alta (Upper) California.
Motto:
Eureka—I have found it.
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