According to an email from HSC's legal advisor, Linda J. Conrad, the California Dept. of Education has decided to remove from its website the references to homeschooling as "illegal". Email me if you want a copy.

One of the pages has been removed, but another is still there.

Homeschooling has never been illegal in California, but our former Superintendent of Public Education (Delaine Eastin) was pursuing a personal vendetta against homeschooling families, trying to force us into public education alternatives like public school independent study programs and public school affiliated charter schools. Many of us prefer to file a private school affidavit and operate our homeschools without public school affiliation. It was this she declared "illegal". Obviously public school teachers and administrators want our children tied to the state system to increase the flow of funding which is figured on "Average Daily Attendance" (ADA) - averaging $ 6,360 per pupil per year in California according to the most recent statistics posted.

Eastin's misinterpretation of California private school law has been addressed by all relevant homeschool organizations:

CHN: Filing a Private School Affidavit and the misinformation page.

CHEA: Private School Affidavit Filing Instructions and HSLDA's J. Michael Smith's letter to the California Legislature

HSC: R4 (Private School Affidavit) Status in California

AHE: California State Law -The way we've homeschooled for the past 20 years!

So, is this good news? Many are taking it as a hopeful sign the new Superintendent, Jack O'Connell, is not willing to follow Eastin's ridiculous misinterpretation of the law. Still, I'm waiting to see when their homeschooling page is pulled down or revised. One of the offending pages, FAQs, is already gone. Another page promises revisions. We look forward to seeing what the new policy will be.
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