John Woolard, et al. v. Tony Thurmond, et al.

California funds independent-study programs in which parents teach their children in their homes using curricula and materials the parents select. Charter-school employees simply approve parent-directed purchases and periodically review student work for adherence to state academic standards. The charter schools here denied parents funding and academic credit for curricula and materials even though they satisfied the State’s academic standards, solely because officials deemed them “religious.” The Ninth Circuit approved this discrimination by holding that parents teaching their children in their own homes using curricula and materials they selected are conducting a “public school program” to which the First Amendment’s prohibition against religious discrimination doesn’t apply. The question presented is: Whether a State that chooses to recognize and fund homeschooling using parents’ chosen curricula may deny recognition and funding to parents who desire to use faith-based curricula or materials to teach their children at home, solely because the State deems those materials religious?