It's time to file those private school affidavits!!!
California Educational Code section 33190 requires all private schools to file their private school affidavit between October 1 and 15 of each year. You can file electronically on the CDE's website: http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/rq/affidavit.asp. If you have questions about completing the form, line-by-line instructions can be found at: http://hsc.org/linebyline.html. More information about the private school option can be found on our getting started pages . Further questions should be directed to the Legal Team at http://hsc.org/contactus.html
CDE Extends Deadline: What That Means The legal team has gotten a couple of questions about what it means that the CDE has extended the deadline for filing PSAs to December 1, and what that means for people who might decide over the winter break to pull their kids out of school and start homeschooling. We have been asked whether people who might want to start homeschooling after December 1 should hurry up and get their PSA on file now.
The short answer is no, don't file now if the kids aren't enrolled in and attending the school full time. We would recommend that people starting to homeschool after the filing deadline wait to file until the school has students. It won't have any until the kids have been withdrawn from public school. Filing now and saying that there are students isn't true. By filing a PSA, a school is attesting under penalty of perjury that everything in the affidavit is correct, so it matters.
In years past, the CDE has said that the affidavit filing deadline is October 15, but their online filing system has remained active the rest of the year. By extending the deadline to December, what the CDE is doing is saying that schools that exist today but don't file until the new deadline are not out of compliance (technically, if your school existed on October 15 but hadn't filed, your school wasn't legal and your students were truant). But their extension of the deadline has nothing to do with whether new schools can be formed after the deadline.
We have had conversations with them previously about this, and they agree that new schools can be formed at any time during the year. They say that technically, affidavits of new schools formed after the filing deadline really don't need to be filed until the following school year, but they understand that homeschoolers aren't comfortable with that and will want to file when they form their school so they have something to show anyone who wants proof that the kids are in a legal school.
I will be surprised if O'Connell's office makes it impossible to file new affidavits after the end of the extended filing deadline. If anyone hears that people aren't able to file online after December 1, please notify us right away. We will talk to them immediately.
Debbie Schwarzer
HSC Legal Team Work to keep Homeschooling legal... Are Homeschooled Kids At A Disadvantage Our own wise legal mind Debbie Shwarzer faces off with the California Federation of teachers on opposingviews.com. The question? Are homeschooled kids at a disadvantage? Read it now...
Homeschoolers Win!
On August 8, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate
District ruled that homeschooling is indeed a legal option in
California. This was a reversal of a ruling in February of this year
that parents must hold a teaching credential to homeschool their
children, and confirms HSC’s long held interpretation of private
school laws.
California’s three largest homeschool organizations, Homeschool
Association of California, California Homeschool Network, and
Christian Home Education Association, joined together in filing an
amicus brief with the court to support our homeschooling rights.
According to HSC’s legal co-chair, Debbie Schwarzer, "They did the
right thing. They did their job. They carefully read everything (they
don't cite the HSC/CHN/CHEA brief, but believe me, much of what they
write is based on our arguments), and reached the legally correct
conclusions."
This outcome is truly a victory for all homeschoolers in the state.
HSC wants to extend it’s appreciation not only to our wonderful legal
team, but also to the law firm of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati
who donated their expertise, and to each and every one of our members.
Your membership dollars go to help in situations just like this. Many
of you also sent additional fund, wrote, called, and visited your
lawmakers. Each and every one of those actions helped us to reach this
wonderful outcome. Thank you so much for your support during this
difficult time. |
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