The following comes from a July 28 WND article by Bob Unruh:

Parents who homeschool their children in California’s San Benito Unified School District were recently informed that they were breaking the law.

According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, the world’s largest homeschool advocacy organization, a letter from the district claimed, “Under California law, a home school is not a private school, nor is it a lawful alternative to public school.”

However, it was eight years ago when a senior level court in the state concluded that state law permits homeschooling “as a species of private education.”

That ruling came in a case in which the court first ruled the other way and essentially ordered homeschoolers into a government-approved program. But when WND broke the story, a coalition of homeschool interests joined to ask for the judges to reconsider, which they did.

Of the latest ploy from the San Benito district, the Home School Legal Defense Association said, “We cannot understand or explain how a school district today, so many years after the Jonathan L. case, could still be sending official correspondence that is so clearly wrong.

“When we learned of San Benito’s letter, we quickly responded on behalf of our member families, explaining that homeschooling is indeed a legal exemption to public school attendance pursuant to the private-school exemption.”

The organization cited the 2008 case that set the legal precedent.

The state’s 2nd Appellate District in Los Angeles found that homeschooling is allowed by state law.

HSLDA said the original ruling came out before it had been notified of the dispute.

“Because HSLDA was not involved in the underlying case, the appellate court was not properly briefed about the many ways the legislature had made provision for parents to teach their own children under the private-school option,” the group said.

HSLDA jumped into action when the opinion was released, and eventually, “The same three judges who had said back in February (before we were involved) that homeschooling was illegal now reversed course and held that ‘California statutes permit home schooling as a species of private school education.’”