Private School Affidavit Filing Instructions

Updated October 1, 2008

The Private School Affidavit for the 2008-09 school year is now posted on the CDE’s web site. To access the form click here. Private School Affidavits for existing private schools and new schools are to be completed and filed between October 1 and October 15 each year. New private schools that start up later in the school year should complete an affidavit and file it when they start up.

If you are enrolled in a private school satellite program (a “PSP” or formerly referred to as an “ISP” or “umbrella school”), then you do not need to fill out a private school affidavit. Your PSP will do it for you.

If this is the first time you are filing a Private School Affidavit, print a blank copy before filling it out and review it. If you have questions not answered by our instructions below, please call our office for assistance.

Individuals who do not have access to the internet (either at home, the library or with the help of a friend, and with access to a printer) should contact HSLDA for help with filing a “Statement in Lieu.” You will no longer be able to request a hard copy of a private school affidavit from the CDE and they also will not accept a print-out of the online affidavit completed by hand.

The law requires that you file this private school affidavit with the CDE in order for your children, who are enrolled in your private school (which happens to be based in your home) to be exempt from attendance at a public school.

Make sure your printer is working before you begin this process.

Accessing Affidavit from CDE Website

Access the Private School Affidavit form on the CDE website. Please read the filing instructions on the web site carefully.

Note:
The CDE has stated that they will not accept a Private School Affidavit form that has been printed from the web site and completed manually. The web site form must be completed online.

The only information required to be reported on an affidavit or statement are the items specifically mentioned in EC § 33190. However, the computerized online affidavit form has been programmed by the CDE to require some additional information. We recommend that you provide only what is necessary to file the affidavit as indicated by the CDE on screen with an asterisk.

Completing and filing an Affidavit

Select the appropriate category:

New Schools and those that did not file in 2007-08.

Schools with Five or Fewer Students

(Existing schools with more than six students have been given passwords so that they can enter the database and just update their private school affidavit.)

1-4. Statutory Notices: Check all the boxes indicating that you have read each notice.

5. Check “Yes.” You are filing as a private school under Education Code 48222.

6. Is this a new school? If you have never registered before as a private school in California, check yes.

7. Check “No.” This only applies to schools that are receiving federal funding for special education programs.

8. Choose the appropriate county by selecting from the drop-box.

9. Select public school district by selecting from the drop box. If there is more than one (elementary/highschool) select either one, it does not matter.

10. Small private schools are not assigned a CDS code (school ID number). Leave blank.

11. Insert the name that you are selecting for your private school.

12-16. Insert street address. Mailing address is optional. Telephone is required

17. Site administrator: For homeschoolers this can be either the husband or wife.

18. Site Administrator Title: Select from options in the drop box. It does not make a significant difference which title you choose.

19-20. Email addresses are optional. If you provide an email address, they will send you an email confirmation of your filing.

21. Type of School: Private homeschoolers should check “Coeducational.”

22. School Accommodations: “Day Only.”

23. Grades Offered: Your choice can reflect an elementary school of 1–8; a high school of 9–12, or a 1–12 school. If makes no significant difference which you choose.

24. High School Diploma Offered: Private schools may issue diplomas.

25. Former name of school: Unless you are a large school and you have changed the name of your school, leave this blank. It is not a required field.

26. Former public school district: Unless your area has been redistricted, leave this blank. It is not a required field.

27. Classification of School: Your choice. If you select religious, most homeschoolers are not directly sponsored by their church, so use the drop box and select “Not affiliated with any denomination.”

28. Range of Students’ Ages: If you only have 1 student, that student’s age will go in both boxes.

29. Enrollment on a single date October 1–15, 2008: On your Private School Affidavit, do not indicate enrollment of any children under 5 years of age. California’s compulsory attendance laws only require that children be enrolled by their 6th birthday in the year in which they turn 6 on or before December 2 (i.e., a child who turns six on December 3, 2008, does not need to be formally enrolled in school until September of 2009). You may, of course, teach your children who are under 5 years of age at home. They simply are not formally enrolled in your private school and therefore should not to be included in the number of students which you indicate by grade level on the affidavit form. By reporting any enrollment of children under 5 years of age, you could be perceived as operating a preschool program. The state Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division, rather than the Department of Education, has jurisdiction over the licensing of all private nursery schools, preschools, and day-care centers within the state. Any established, organized program for children younger than four years and nine months of age is designated a preschool and must be licensed.

30. Number of 12th grade graduates for the 2007–08 School Year: If you’ve had any graduates, insert the number. The CDE has added a No. 30 to the question about 12th grade graduates, which has caused all the following lines to be renumbered. That might give you the impression that there are new questions, but there are not.

31. School Staff: You must have at least one teacher. You can only count yourself once. They want an accurate head count of school staff.

32-41. Directors and Principal Officers: You must list at least one director. For the individual family, it may be the husband or wife, or both. Only one is required.

42. Tax Status of School: For the individual family filing as a private school, check “None of the above.”

43. NDSL Cancellation: No

44-47. Custodian of Records: This can be either the husband or wife.

48-52. Acknowledgements. Check all the boxes indicating that you have read and understand the statements. Check box No. 48 even though it does not apply to individual families filing as a private school.

Electronic Signature: The electronic signature is in lieu of mailing a signed copy to the California Department of Education. You are filing under penalty of perjury so a signature is required. The identifying questions they ask for as part of the electronic signature is information they need in case they ever need to verify that you were actually the person filing the private school affidavit.

Submit Form: Click on the “Submit Form” button at the bottom of the on-line affidavit to submit your completed affidavit to the CDE. It will generate a confirmation page. Print two copies of that page for your records.