The Private School Affidavit

Affidavits are accessed online at the Department of Education website, and completed there. The current URL is http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/rq/affidavit.asp. Please be aware that all of the fields indicated as required must be completed (for instance, you cannot file with "0" students). There are several items that are not required (such as e-mail address); it is pretty clear on the system which are required and which are not. For line by line instructions, please go to affadavit line by line . The affidavit is to be filed between October 1 and October 15 for a given school year. The procedures for filing the affidavit are constantly changing. For the most updated information, check the California Department of Education website (http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/rq).

We have asked the CDE if they agree that new schools can be formed after October 15, and, if so, when these schools should file their affidavits. The CDE told us that they believe that new private schools are allowed to be formed after October 15. They said, however, that these new schools should not file an affidavit for that school year, but should just wait until the following fall to file.

We agree that, strictly speaking, this is correct. However, because the CDE isn't the only government agency that has a reason to think about whether a particular private school is "legal," we are a little worried that some other government official might interpret the requirements of Section 33190 differently. For example, an attendance officer might come to someone's door inquiring whether a particular child is attending a legal school and not truant. That official has the right to see certain papers. One of those papers is the filed affidavit. If the school was formed after October 15 of a school year and hadn't filed an affidavit, it could certainly explain to the officer how the CDE interprets a new school's obligations. But that officer might look at Section 33190 and Section 48224 and conclude that the school isn't legal because it hasn't filed an affidavit. We doubt that a supervisor or a court would agree with the officer's conclusion, but any parents wanting to shut down the possibility of ever having this argument might want to think about filing an affidavit anyway.

The fact that the affidavits are filed after the school year typically starts is not a problem. No private school can file before October 1, and the state does not claim that every private school student is truant between mid-August and October 1. If you are contacted after the typical school year begins but before October by anyone who has a right to see your school's affidavit, you should explain that no private school can file an affidavit before October 1. You can also offer to show them your affidavit from the prior year, or, if you did not file in the prior year, offer to mail them a copy when you can.

As long as you follow the private school statutory requirements, your school is a legal private school. Fill out the private school affidavit carefully and accurately, return it in a timely manner, and keep a copy of it with the records listed below.

We recommend that you keep these records in two separate binders. The first binder should hold the records that a government official, such as an attendance officer, is legally entitled to see without a warrant or a subpoena: a copy of the filed private school affidavit, your attendance records, and a letter verifying that the children are enrolled in and attending the school. The second binder should hold all of the other required records identified in the list above: courses of study offered, faculty qualifications, criminal record summaries, and immunizations records or waivers. Although you are required to keep these, no public official is entitled to see them without a subpoena. In fact, we believe that many of these records cannot even be seen with a subpoena. However, the law requires you to have them, and you are signing, under penalty of perjury, that you do have them.



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