Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Homeschooling families in California are rallying against a bill they say would cut funding for critical enrichment programs and force their charter schools to close down.
Introduced by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, AB 84 seeks to increase oversight and accountability for charter schools, particularly non-classroom-based (NCB) programs.
The bill would “strengthen accountability and oversight to crack down on documented fraud and improper use of taxpayer dollars allocated for public education,” Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said during an Assembly Standing Committee on Education hearing in April. Muratsuchi cited the A3 charter school scandal in San Diego, where in 2019, over $400 million in taxpayer funds was defrauded.
“Some charter schools provide vouchers to families using taxpayer dollars intended for public education. These vouchers have been spent on family trips to Disneyland, ski resorts, and baseball games,” Muratsuchi told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement on July 2. “AB 84 seeks to ensure that public education funds are properly spent on legitimate educational activities.”
But parents and educators who provide extra curricular activities to students enrolled in charter schools, called vendors, say the bill would hurt students by cutting out significant funding for those classes.
AB 84 would reduce per-student funding for non-classroom based charter schools by up to 30 percent and restrict the use of public funds for enrichment activities unless providers hold traditional teaching credentials, limiting partnerships with specialists and professionals in the community.
For some vendors, that means they’ll have to close their business entirely.
“It would give me a pretty big dent,” Derek Davis, a private boxing coach in Temecula and Menifee, told The Epoch Times on June 27. “I would honestly most likely have to close shop and just go get a different job. So much of my clientele is all through the charter schools.”
Davis provides private boxing lessons at the homes of his students, mostly boys between five and 15 years old. He also offers group coaching lessons, providing an opportunity for children to socialize, similar to a traditional physical education class in public schools.
Davis said the bill would cut his business by about 50 to 75 percent.
“It took me years, a lot of work into going through the system and getting registered through all the charter schools, building the relationships with all the parents, and then meeting the kids,” Davis said. “This bill is going to really affect me negatively.”
Davis said most of his students get a one-hour lesson once or twice a week. Without the funding families currently receive for enrichment, however, most wouldn’t be able to afford his lessons, which cost about $50 to $60 per hour.
But the real people losing out are the students, Davis said.
California has the most homeschooled students in the country, with 547,561 children between five and 17 as of 2024, according to a survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. The state saw a 78 percent increase in homeschool students between 2017 and 2022, with the number doubling during COVID.
Currently, California is classified as a low-regulation state for homeschooling by the Home School Legal Defense Association, due to its minimal curriculum control, notification, and testing requirements.
The state’s low regulations and robust charter school options make it an appealing option for families seeking an alternative to public or private school for their children.
Opposition to AB 84 has been organized by a group called Freedom Angels, who argue the bill would cut funding for children’s enrichment programs, threatening the personalized learning models parents have tailored for their children’s unique interests, talents, and learning styles.
“All of that is an ecosystem together, and when you attack one critical part of it, it weakens and damages the entire ecosystem,” Freedom Angels organizer Tara Thornton told The Epoch Times on June 27. “So this is going to affect and impact so many children, their choices, and opportunities.”
Thornton and Denise Aguilar of Freedom Angels are behind the rallies being held at the 30 local district offices of Democratic state senators. The next rally is scheduled for July 14.
At the local level, homeschooling mom of two Stephanie Dawson has organized groups in Riverside County to rally against the bill. She leads a co-op and is also a school board member at Mission Vista Academy, a non in-person charter school that serves parts of Riverside, Orange, San Diego, and San Bernardino Counties.
Dawson’s 8-year-old son Nicholas takes horseback riding lessons, and drama and zoology classes as part of his homeschool curriculum. Out of pocket, the three enrichment programs through Mission Vista Academy would cost her family approximately $2,000 per school year.
“This (bill) actually would impact most of the children in our co-op, as well,” Dawson told The Epoch Times. “So it’s a big thing in our community.”
AB 84 threatens to shut down most charter schools, including Mission Vista Academy.
“A lot of the aspects of this bill would make it so that these charter schools can’t function,” she said. “Our children can receive services and enrichment programs from non-credentialed vendors with this bill that will no longer be allowed so enrichment programs, such as horseback riding lessons, music lessons, STEM programs would be taken away.”
Many vendors for enrichment programs are small businesses owned by people who are specialists in their field, and don’t necessarily hold traditional teaching credentials, such as the ranches that offer horseback riding lessons and music professionals.
Currently, vendors must be pre-approved by the charter school. If they want to participate, they must apply. Parents select the vendors they want to use and vendors invoice the charter school after services are rendered.
The bill would also prohibit schools sharing staff.
“One of our students in our co-op is going into high school soon,” she said. “So, for example, if he’s enrolled in a charter that gets impacted by this bill, the amount of classes that he’s able to take from the charter school, non in-person, would be reduced because currently, the charters are able to share their staff, including their teachers that teach classes online, for example. If they can’t do that, it reduces how many teachers they have per charter school.”
Like most families in Dawson’s co-op, she says that even without the funding for enrichment programs, she would choose to continue to homeschool her son, who has never been to a brick-and-mortar school.
Dawson has shaped his education around his personalized learning style, his skills, talents, and his interests.
“And that makes his education so much more rich than I'd be able to do if he was going to a traditional school,” she said.
The mother of two touts the benefits of alternative education models. Her daughter Celeste, who is now an adult, went through the public school system until her senior year, which coincided with COVID. She enrolled in Mission Vista, part of their first graduating class, where she thrived after being able to select hand-picked enrichment classes that fed her talents and interests.
“When we’re able to focus on those things, it makes their education so much more enriching. So, for the parents and the families who would like to go that route, who would like to step out of the traditional learning style, because their child would thrive elsewhere. It’s important for us to have those options.”
AB 84 passed the Assembly on June 5 43-25 and is currently in the State Senate, referred to the Committee on Rules for assignment.