Filing your California Private School Affidavit

Do I need to file?

California gives families several ways to educate at home. Only one of them, running your own home-based private school, means you file the affidavit yourself.

• Yes: your child is 6 to 18 and you’re teaching them in your own home-based private school.
• Yes: your child takes classes from an out-of-state online school. The CDE says you still file, and your affidavit becomes the school of record in California.
• No: you’re enrolled in an existing private school, including a private school satellite program (PSP). The school files its own affidavit.
• No: you homeschool through a public charter school or a public school independent study program. Your child is a public school student.
• No: your child is taught by a tutor with a valid California teaching credential for that grade (Education Code §48224).
• Only preschoolers? Don’t file. The CDE says programs serving only children below kindergarten don’t file an affidavit. (Kindergarten can be included: the youngest student must be at least 4 years 9 months old on September 1.)

Have these ready before you start

The online form can’t be saved partway, so gather everything first. Most home schools give the same person (you) for every contact.

1. A school name. Any name you choose. The CDE asks you to leave off “School” and “The” unless they fall in the middle of the name.
2. Your county and public school district (the district where you live).
3. The lowest and highest grade your school offers, plus a few yes/no basics: coeducational or not, day-only, whether you provide special education, whether you grant a high school diploma, and a religious or non-religious classification.
4. Your home address (no P.O. box for the physical address), a mailing address, a phone number, and an email.
5. Filed last year? Have your confirmation code, or the email you used, and the form can start from last year’s answers.
6. Your students: the age range, and how many students are in each grade.
7. Staff counts: teachers and administrators. That’s you, and the total must be at least one.
8. Contacts: a site administrator, a director, and a custodian of records, plus the address where your records are kept (usually your home).
9. Tax status. Unless the IRS or the State of California has confirmed your school as nonprofit or tax-exempt, choose “None of the above.”
10. For the signature: your name, title, and email, and an answer to a security question.

How to file

1. Open the filing system from the CDE’s Private School Affidavit page.
2. Confirm that your school is a full-time private school, then choose last year’s answers or a blank affidavit.
3. Work through the 11 steps: school info, address, contact, prior-year changes, students and staff, administrators, records, tax status, notices, signature, and review.
4. On the review page, double-check your enrollment numbers. The CDE says the most common mistake is entering the grade instead of the count: one sixth grader is a 1, not a 6.
5. Submit, then save the confirmation page and the confirmation email. The email has your confirmation code, which you need to correct the affidavit later.

You sign electronically under penalty of perjury that the information is true. Can’t file online? The law also allows a written statement with the same information, filed in the same window.

What filing does, and doesn’t, mean

• It’s a registration, not an approval. The CDE doesn’t review, verify, license, or endorse your school.
• Pulling a child out of public school? You don’t have to report to your district, but the district must verify the exemption, which usually means giving them a copy of your filed affidavit.
• It’s a public record. For schools with fewer than six students, the CDE doesn’t publish it in its directories, and it redacts the address if the record is ever requested.
• Changes later? Updating is optional. The CDE recommends it for new addresses and contact details, using the link in your confirmation email.

The records to keep all year

Filing takes one sitting. The record-keeping is year-round. California requires private schools, including home schools, to keep:

1. An attendance register that clearly shows every absence of a half day or more.
2. The courses of study you offer.
3. Your faculty’s names and addresses, with a record of each teacher’s educational qualifications.

The CDE also recommends keeping a copy of each year’s affidavit and individual pupil records. Instruction has to be in English and cover the branches of study taught in California public schools (Education Code §51210 for grades 1–6 and §51220 for grades 7–12).