by Cathie Berglund
Jan. 5, 2026
The story of homeschooling freedom in the Golden State includes miracles and close calls, endurance and courage on the part of families and homeschool advocates. Michael Smith chronicles California’s homeschool history in his book, The Battle for Homeschool Freedom in California. As one of the founders of HSLDA and a lawyer who fought for this freedom in California’s courts, his words bear warning that this story “is in danger of being forgotten” (p. 2). In the United States, the fundamental right of parents to homeschool their children stands on 2 pillars: our fundamental 1st Amendment right of freedom of religion and the long-standing American tradition of parental rights to direct the upbringing of their children, including their education. In 1925, the U.S. Supreme Court justices wrote those two pillars into case law in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, when they declared that the “child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” (p. 58) Nevertheless, the power to regulate education is left to the States, not the federal government, and like every other state in our country, California requires compulsory education for its students. Every child in California between 6 and 18 years of age must attend a public school, unless they qualify for an exemption to that law. Inspired by the writings of Dr. Raymond Moore in the early 1980’s, Southern California lawyer, Michael Smith and his wife, Elizabeth, decided that homeschooling would be the best choice to prepare their children for the future. But as a lawyer sworn to uphold the laws of California, he had to answer the question: Was homeschooling legal in California? Through much research, work, and prayer, he found that it was legal, but homeschooling was not defined by statute or precedent law in California’s courts … yet. Michael and pioneering homeschooling families and state organizations worked for the next two decades to make it so. Thank you, Mrs. Klopton, for teaching your children to pray. In the early 1980’s, home education was not defined in California’s statutes or education code. Families in the Golden State had two options if they wanted to be exempted from the state’s compulsory public school attendance law: full-time enrollment in a private school or full-time instruction by a certified tutor. In Lancaster, California, Mrs. Dovey Klopton’s first-grade daughter came home from school crying one afternoon because she was forbidden to pray over her food during lunch at her public school. A meeting with the school principal confirmed that her children were indeed not allowed to pray during school hours. Mrs. Klopton did not send her children back to that school. Instead, she chose to teach them all at home. When she was informed that her children were now truant, she sought out Michael Smith to represent her in court. Michael argued in her defense that attendance at the public school interfered with her religious beliefs, and he proved, with a little help from all of Mrs. Klopton’s homeschooling books, that her children were receiving a quality education which would fulfill the court’s requirement that the children’s education would result in the formation of, in the words of the Supreme Court, “a literate and self-sufficient person.” (p. 8) With a commonsense approach and by the grace of God, Michael had won his first homeschool case. However, he knew that what California’s families needed was a solid argument for homeschooling since there was nothing about home education in California’s law code. Due to restrictions contained in the tutor exemption (the teacher had to be certified by the state of California to teach every subject in every grade), Michael believed that the private school exemption was the best option for parents to homeschool here. He knew that parents could fulfill the requirements of California’s private school law without special training or undue oversight by government officials. The growth of the homeschool movement in the early 1980’s prompted Washington state lawyer Michael Farris to establish the Home School Legal Defense Association in 1983 with the goal of providing legal representation in all 50 states and protecting the right of parents to direct the education of their children through home education. For the next two decades, California’s families faced a rollercoaster ride of opposition in their fight to educate according to their own conscience in their home. For example: 1983 - Robert Ponce of the California Department of Education (CDE) wrote that the private school option did not apply to families, and he urged truancy officers to prosecute noncertified homeschooling parents. 1980’s – Many court victories in the state won the right for families to homeschool under the private school law because there was nothing in California education code stating that homeschooling under the private school exemption was a violation of the law. 1988 – The California School Boards Association issued Policy 1621, which included the first statement by a state-affiliated organization that parents could file an affidavit to establish a private school at home. Affidavits were filed with local school districts, not directly with the CDE. 1992 – Confusion ensued when a new general counsel for the CDE stated that private school satellite programs (PSP’s) were legal, but private schools established by parents in their home were not legal, unless they were operated as a business, enrolling students from the public and following zoning regulations. 1998 – An amendment to the 1997 Montoya Act exempted homeschooling parents from the fingerprinting and background check requirement that applies to private schools. This law became one foundation on which a court case would later secure the rights of California’s parents to teach their children at home. 2000 – In the early part of the 2000s the private school affidavit began to be filed directly with the CDE as directed by the California education code. 2002 – In a letter to the state legislature, Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Easton wrote that private homeschools were illegal. Many school districts and the state legislature did not follow her lead on this issue, however. The Court Case that Secured Private Homeschool Freedom in California Through these tumultuous decades, California’s homeschooling families had two advocates to help them navigate the uncertainty of home education in our state. HSLDA was always working to help resolve issues for homeschooling families, and in 1986 Michael Farris asked Roy Hanson to become a full-time advocate for parental and 1st Amendment rights in California. Roy established Family Protection Ministries (FPM) in Sacramento which continues to scan new legislation every year and to advocate for private homeschooling rights under the leadership of Nathan Pierce. But it was a court case in 2008 (In re Jonathan L.) that finally settled the question for families in the Golden State. When homeschooling parents were accused of abuse and neglect in the San Fernando Valley, the court-appointed lawyer for the children of the family asked the judge to terminate the parents’ rights to homeschool. The judge denied the attorney’s request, but that decision was reversed unanimously on appeal by the Fourth District Court. The Court’s decision that parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool effectively outlawed homeschooling in California. Miraculously, the Court agreed to hear new oral arguments when HSLDA asked the judges to reconsider the case. HSLDA, FPM, CHEA, and many other pro-homeschool organizations filed briefs, and in August 2008 the Court reversed its decision, ruling that homeschooling is legal in California due to the state legislature’s long history of acknowledging homeschools as private schools, including the Montoya Act of 1998. In this very rare occurrence, the panel of judges unanimously reversed their own decision, writing that homeschools may constitute private schools and that the practice has been “acknowledged and accepted by officials and the public for many years.” (p. 87) Not only was homeschooling legal under the private school affidavit, but it had always been legal under California’s laws. And, thankfully, “To this day the legislature, by the grace of God and the good work of FPM and other statewide homeschool organizations, has not passed harmful regulations on the issue.” (p. 29) Nevertheless, freedom requires vigilance on the part of those who desire to walk and live in freedom. Along with HSLDA and FPM, the Board and Staff here at CHEA are committed to watching for threats to private home education and working to protect the God-given right of parents to direct the education and training of their children, to the glory of God. Interested in learning more? The Battle for Homeschool Freedom in California by J. Michael Smith is available in the CHEA store. You can also hear more in CHEA’s California Homeschool Podcast (@CHEAofca) when CHEA Executive Director Angela Lasch discusses the subject with FPM Executive Director Nathan Pierce. _________________________________ Cathie is the Exhibits Coordinator for CHEA. She and her husband homeschooled their two, now grown, children through high school. Cathie's homeschooling years sparked a love for the study of God’s Word, for reading and teaching literature, and for encouraging families in their own homeschool journeys.
