Public school, religious instruction: How local charter students are getting religious schooling

In San Diego County and across California, some K-12 school students are getting what their families consider the best of three worlds.

By enrolling in a private religious schooling program, they get an in-person campus experience and instruction that aligns with their families' beliefs. By homeschooling, their families get a larger say in their education, and they are exempt from school vaccine requirements. And by enrolling in a public charter school, they get thousands of dollars to pay for extracurricular activities, day classes, learning materials and more. All at the same time.

It's an increasingly common schooling arrangement that has gained popularity since the beginning of the pandemic, when families unhappy with remote instruction in traditional public schools went looking for alternatives. It hinges on students' enrollment in what are sometimes referred to as homeschool charters — public charter schools that are themselves primarily remote and cater to homeschooled students.

At least five religious in-person schooling programs in San Diego County allow for this arrangement by enrolling public charter homeschooling students, in addition to private homeschooling students.

It's unclear exactly how many students in San Diego County or across the state are part of such programs, because many programs do not disclose their enrollment. But homeschooling advocates say they have seen increased interest in these religious programs in recent years, not just in San Diego County but across California. And new programs have opened in the county since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

"Homeschooling as a movement is growing like crazy, particularly hybrid models like ours," said Nick Ostermann, executive director of Heart Christian Academy, which serves 1,300 charter and independent homeschooling students across the country, including about 400 students in San Diego County. "I think you're only going to see more of this model pop up in more places as the years go on."

But some homeschooling advocates have expressed concerns that such arrangements may be at odds with state law, which prohibits students from double-enrolling in a public and private school. The state constitution also prohibits sectarian or religious instruction from being provided through public schools, directly or indirectly.

And in some cases locally, charter school dollars are directly paying teachers at these religious programs, because the teachers are treated and paid as educational "vendors" of the charter schools, according to religious programs' websites, The San Diego Union-Tribune has found.

"It's almost like (the charters) are subbing out ... the education to a religious organization," said Nathan Pierce, executive director of Family Protection Ministries , a homeschooling advocacy and Christian organization in California.

It's unclear to what extent state officials are familiar with these arrangements, are monitoring them or consider them legal. When asked about their legality, a state education department spokesperson only responded with ways in which the department believes such arrangements would be legal — that is, if the religious programs are not part of the student's charter-approved education plan.

' Everything we provide is really comprehensive '

Here's how it works. Families enroll in an independent-study charter school that offers them flexibility and choice in crafting their child's education plan — essentially letting them homeschool. Then the families enroll in a separate, private religious program that offers full-day, in-person, core-subject instruction anywhere from two to four days a week.

These religious programs look like schools — they have their own tuition, teachers, administrators, campus, curriculum, activities, boards of directors, even dress codes and discipline codes — but do not register as private schools with the state. They call themselves "learning centers," "homeschool partnership programs" or "academies."

The charter schools, meanwhile, serve as the student's school of record. They provide at least a monthly check-in with teachers employed by the charter, as state law requires.

The charters also provide each student as much as $3,800 a year that families can spend on enrichment and academic activities and supplies from a list of school-approved vendors, with the charter's approval. Families spend this money on anything from annual zoo passes to personal tutoring to private lessons in ice skating or horseback riding.

No state laws specifically regulate who can be a charter school vendor or what charter families can spend their funds on. That has allowed public tax dollars to go to a wide range of private individuals, school-like programs and businesses that sell their services to charter families.

The Union-Tribune requested interviews with leaders of five religious programs that operate in San Diego County and invite charter students to enroll: the Awaken Academy run by Awaken Church, Thrive Learning Center in Encinitas, Zion Learning Center run by Zion Lutheran Church in Fallbrook, The Legacy Alliance in San Marcos and Heart Christian Academy .

Heart was the only program that spoke with the Union-Tribune. Zion and Legacy declined requests; Awaken and Thrive did not respond.

Heart Christian Academy, which opened its first location in San Juan Capistrano 25 years ago, provides a hybrid in-person instruction program meant to help families with the often-daunting task of homeschooling, said Ostermann. The Heart network now encompasses 15 campuses in four states, most of them in California, including in Carlsbad, La Mesa and San Marcos.

"We kind of do that heavy lifting for them so they can really enjoy the core of what homeschooling is meant to be," Ostermann said.

There are several draws to the program for families. Because Heart is not a full-time in-person program, students get more time to spend with family, travel or doing extracurricular activities, Ostermann said. It's also a less-expensive option than typical private or parochial schools: The program currently charges $3,500 a year in tuition for its California campuses; it also offers a 100 percent remote option for $950 a year.

And because Heart does not file as a school with the state, families do not have to submit any medical or vaccination records to Heart, Ostermann said. Therefore, according to Heart, it does not have to comply with state law that requires that private and public school students attending in-person instruction receive school vaccinations.

On a recent day at Heart's San Marcos campus, the scene looked much like a typical school: Students in polo-and-khaki uniforms were playing tag football in the yard, students in classrooms were answering questions from teachers in reading and math, and staff members were setting up for a student theater production of "Charlotte's Web."

Two days a week, Heart provides recess, lunch and full-day instruction that covers all core subjects, in addition to daily Bible study. On the other three days of the week, parents educate their students at home using lesson plans provided by Heart.

Heart incorporates a Christian worldview into all of its operations, and it uses both secular and sectarian curricula. It hires and vets its own teachers, several of whom have been credentialed educators for decades, Ostermann said.

Most students enrolled at Heart are also enrolled in a public independent-study charter school, Ostermann said. But it's Heart that provides pretty much everything the students need for their education.

"Everything we provide is really comprehensive. There's really nothing needed to supplement the education Heart provides," Ostermann said.

The charter schools serve more as an "umbrella organization" for Heart students, he said. The charters also serve as the official school of record for those students to meet state school attendance requirements, since Heart does not file as a school. And they give families access to thousands of dollars in education funding for each child.

"A lot of families are part of a charter because they get to utilize additional funds," Ostermann said.

He said Heart students submit schoolwork that they complete at Heart as work samples to their charters. Those work samples, which charters typically collect once a month, are the basis upon which independent study charter schools get state school funding.

Families ensure that the work samples don't contain any religious material, Ostermann said. If their schoolwork does contain such material, students instead complete materials provided by their charter or that are found elsewhere.

Ostermann said he believes this arrangement complies with the law. Charter teachers sign off on all students' work samples as meeting state curriculum standards, he said, and students do not use their charter funds to pay for religious curriculum or Heart's tuition.

"Any homeschool family, they might also be teaching things outside of or in addition to a public school curriculum," Ostermann said.

' NEVER mention Thrive'

Article 9, Section 8 of the state constitution forbids any public dollars from being spent in support of any sectarian or denominational school. It also forbids any such instruction from being taught or permitted, directly or indirectly, in any public schools, which include charter schools. State law requires charter schools to be nonsectarian in all of their operations.

Operators of religious programs, homeschooling parents and charter schools say it's legal for charter students to attend religious programs as long as charter school dollars are not directly paying for the religious programs or religious curriculum. Families pay tuition for these religious programs out of their own pockets.

But in some cases, charter funds are directly paying for teachers who work at these religious campuses.

That's the case at religious programs Thrive Learning Center in Encinitas and Legacy Alliance in San Marcos, according to their websites. Unlike Heart Christian Academy and Awaken Academy, which employ their own teachers and have a structured class schedule, Thrive and Legacy offer classes a la carte, and they say they do not employ their own teachers.

Rather, the programs classify their teachers as independent vendors who rent space from them, Thrive and Legacy say on their websites.

“You may call a vendor ‘teacher’ but for charters and the government, they are legally a vendor of educational services,” Thrive wrote in an explainer document for families posted on its website.

Thrive and Legacy offer their own programming, including campus events, study hall and chapel, and charge what they call a membership fee for it. Whenever Thrive and Legacy hold chapel, they require all students who are on campus at that time to attend, according to their membership handbooks.

But both programs say families don't have to be paying members to access the teachers.

Several at Thrive and Legacy are approved as vendors with charter schools — meaning families can pay them using the enrichment funds they get from their charters each year.

For example, Mikala Janse van Rensburg, a co-founder and teacher at Thrive, said in her biography on Thrive's website that she accepts charter fund payments from four local independent-study charter schools.

After the Union-Tribune emailed charter schools on her bio asking about their relationship with religious program vendors, the line listing the charter schools was removed from Janse van Rensburg's bio on Thrive's website.

Thrive and Legacy emphasize that they are not themselves affiliated with charter schools and do not receive charter funding.

"Please understand that The Legacy is not a school nor are we a vendor with any charter schools," Legacy wrote in its membership handbook .

Thrive carefully instructs families about terminology they should use to avoid calling Thrive a school and to avoid suggesting any connections between charter schools and Thrive. The program said it does so for “legal reasons” and “to keep charter schools safe” amid “intense scrutiny by the government.”

“Thrive is not a school … Thrive is in essence a community program. You may call Thrive a school with your family and friends, but officially and legally, for charters and the government, they are a community service that is not legally attached or affiliated with any of your vendors!” Thrive wrote in its explainer document .

Thrive also instructs its charter students' families to not tell their charter schools that their students are enrolled in Thrive.

“NEVER mention Thrive,” administrators wrote. “When you mention Thrive, it confuses the charter schools and causes them to think we are a program that we are not.”

Janse van Rensburg and Thrive did not respond to requests for comment, and Legacy declined to comment.

Ostermann, the executive director of Heart Christian Academy, said his program has stayed true to its mission of supporting families and is not trying to put anything "under the radar."

"We certainly have nothing, from our perspective, we feel a need to frame in a certain way," he said.

Legal questions

Even in cases where charter funds are not directly paying for religious teachers, some leaders in the homeschooling community said they think the arrangement still violates the constitution.

They argue that's because public charter students are getting part, if not most, of their instruction from religious programs — and their education is under the umbrella and oversight of the public charter school.

“For those charters whose (teachers) advise that you may conduct religious instruction during designated school hours, this is prohibited by the California Constitution,” Lucinda Hsu, an administrator of a San Diego homeschooling Facebook group with more than 7,000 members, wrote in a guidance document for families.

Heritage Christian School, a registered private school that offers drop-off classes for homeschoolers across San Diego County, tells families that it will not accept homeschoolers who are enrolled in a charter school because it had been told by state education department officials years ago that doing so would be illegal.

“Charter schools are public schools that prohibit religious instruction during school hours,” the school wrote on its website . “While many people, including the leaders of charter schools, find ways around this prohibition, HCS believes it to be a violation of the intent and rules of the charter to allow religious instruction when the law expressly forbids it.”

Family Protection Ministries, the statewide organization that advocates for families’ right to homeschooling, also believes the arrangement violates the state constitution.

“No, I don’t think it does follow the spirit of the law,” said Pierce of Family Protection Ministries, who has monitored homeschooling legislation for about three decades in California.

Pierce said he considers it a violation because charter schools are paid by the state for the education of their enrolled students, and some of those enrolled students are receiving religious instruction as part of their education.

"The charter schools take responsibility for the education of those students, so the charter schools are being funded for the full education, including all of the subjects that they're supposed to be teaching," Pierce said.

He said he feels it's a particularly clear violation when students are submitting work samples from the religious programs to their public charter schools. Those work samples are the basis upon which independent study charter schools claim state funding.

Homeschooling advocates say there's a simpler, more clearly legal way for families both to homeschool their children and have them use a sectarian curriculum: file their own "private school affidavit" with the state.

This more traditional, independent method of homeschooling gives families the ultimate freedom in educating their children, advocates say, because they are not held to state requirements regarding curriculum, standardized testing or school record-keeping.

The main reason that families enroll in a charter school, then, is the money that comes with it, advocates say.

“The most common thing I hear is that (families) go to the charter for the funding,” Pierce said.

What makes a school a school?

The Union-Tribune emailed questions to the state education department about the legality of having students enroll simultaneously in charter schools and in-person religious instruction programs.

Department spokesperson Scott Roark said that just because independent-study charter students study religious materials does not mean those materials are part of their public school's approved independent-study curriculum. Charter school officials determine what constitutes part of their independent study program, he said.

But according to some families, religious program officials and charter school teachers, these religious programs are often a part of the students' education that is overseen by the charter teacher.

"Their program is dynamic and my daughter's charter homeschool teacher has repeatedly commented on the pace of the lesson plans and quality of the curriculum," one person wrote in an online Yelp review for Heart Christian Academy.

"We also participate in a charter and our children amongst their peers at the charter school are in the top of their class. For us this goes directly back to the curriculum that is being used and the teachers direction when on campus," another person wrote about Heart.

Some homeschooling advocates, like Hsu, argue these arrangements are illegal because charter schools are essentially collecting state funding for time that students are spending getting a religious education.

But that idea is complicated by the fact that independent-study programs — where students do school work on their own, rather than in a traditional school classroom setting — do not necessarily have "school hours," as Roark noted.

That's the case not just for independent study programs but for charter schools in general, which unlike traditional public schools have no minimum school day set by law.

A charter school could technically educate a student for just 10 minutes per day and still collect the standard amount of money per year that the state gives to traditional public schools for each student. Prosecutors of the A3 charter school fraud case had identified that as a weakness in state law that allowed A3 operators to exploit state school funding.

Technically, a charter student could attend a religious program for a full school day and do 10 minutes of other work, then count those 10 minutes of other work as their school day for the charter.

State law also says charter schools cannot receive funding for students who are attending a private school that charges tuition. But these arrangements don't run directly into that law, because these religious programs do not register as schools.

The state education department defines a school as any educational institution that is based in one or more buildings and has teachers providing instruction, an assigned administrator and enrolled students.

Even though religious programs instruct families not to call them a school, some homeschooling advocates argue they operate like one.

For example, Thrive Learning Center in Encinitas enrolls about 400 students, according to its membership handbook . It provides classes for six hours a day, two days a week. It issues student discipline, including suspensions and expulsions. It provides field trips, has a student dress code, requires parent volunteering and is governed by a seven-member board.

Zion Learning Center, a religious instruction program in Fallbrook that serves charter students, was registered as a private school with the state for decades but stopped filing as one three years ago during the pandemic, according to its website . It now registers as a child care facility. Zion said it made the switch to provide its program to families at a lower cost.

The Union-Tribune asked several local independent-study charters that serve homeschooled students whether they have policies on whether students can enroll in private school-like programs or participate in religious instruction.

Multiple charters said they comply with all state laws requiring charter schools to be nonsectarian. They said per state law, students are not allowed to be enrolled in a private school and their charter school simultaneously.

iLEAD Hybrid Exploration charter, which enrolled more than 3,500 students last school year, said if students participate in extracurricular religious programs, that's "not in the school's purview because it is not assigned by the teacher of record, and not funded with school funds."

"Because it is unrelated to the school, things that students do as part of such programs are not accepted for grades or credit nor are they counted as school instructional minutes," iLEAD wrote in an email.

Some charters also said they don't investigate families' or vendors' religious beliefs or whether families participate in religious activities.

"When students enroll in our school, they receive their California public education program through our school, including standards-based curriculum, state testing, and all of the other components of the public school program," the executive directors of Pacific Coast Academy and Cabrillo Point Academy — both former Inspire schools that together enrolled more than 9,100 students last school year — wrote in identical email statements.

"Independent study pupils meet the same educational objectives as all other pupils and a school does not 'vet' a child’s home and/or other environment where they complete work," they added.

Excel Academy charter schools, which enrolled about 1,600 students last school year, said it does not have a policy on students attending in-person instruction programs. Students are not allowed to submit work samples from a religious program or curriculum, as Excel believes that would violate state law.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .