159948~Home school students must comply—Dear Editor,
The following is a response to a recent column regarding home
schooling:
Interestingly, there is no exemption in the California Education
Code for

home schools.

In other words, education code does not recognize the term

home school

and therefore does not exempt students from compulsory
attendance if they are, in layperson’s terms, being home
schooled.
California Education Code 48222 reads, in its entirety, as follows:

Exemptions under this section shall be valid only after

verification by the attendance supervisor of the district, or other

person designated by the board of education, that the private school

has complied with the provisions of Section 33190 requiring the

annual filing by the owner or other head of a private school of an

affidavit or statement of prescribed information with the

Superintendent of Public Instruction. The verification required by

this section shall not be construed as an evaluation, recognition,

approval, or endorsement of any private school or course.

Notice that it says verification that the school has complied with 33190, by filing the affidavit. No attendance officer with any school district, not even GUSD, has any authority to approve any aspect of any private school – not even home-based private schools.

The GUSD attendance officer’s role is the same for students transferring to home-based, family-run private schools as it is for students transferring to well-known, church-run private schools. Once the attendance officer has verified that the school has filed the private school affidavit as required by Ed Code 33190, his job is done.

One would certainly hope that GUSD would employ an attendance officer that is capable of reading and understanding an entire Education Code section before quoting from it. One can only surmise that had his mother chosen to pay close attention to his early education, as homeschool parents do, he might today be capable of the necessary research to conduct his job competently.

Mr. Valadez, you may not like the law, but it is your job to understand it and apply it as written. Case closed.

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