News Release
For Immediate Release: 10.27.25
Contact: Natalie Konstans, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Homeschool Families Request Rehearing after Ninth Circuit Fails to Stop Religious Discrimination
California homeschool aid programs welcome parents’ choices—unless they choose religious books or publishers.
Pasadena, CA—First Liberty Institute filed a petition for rehearing en banc at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, challenging its recent decision to allow California to discriminate against families who choose faith-based curricula in homeschool aid programs.
You can read the Woolard, Gonzales, and Dodson families’ petition here.
Some of California’s tuition-free charter schools offer “homeschool academy” or “independent study” programs that families may choose as an alternative to traditional classroom-based instruction. Families receive access to state funds they can use to purchase curricula, enrichment materials, and extracurricular activities. The parents choose their own curriculum and teach their own children at home—but they can’t select a religious curriculum, even if they purchase it with their own funds, and their children’s work samples are rejected if they include religious wording or derive from materials created by religious publishers. A panel of the Ninth Circuit rejected the families’ challenge to these discriminatory practices in a ruling in September.
“We are hopeful that the full Court will grant rehearing and come to the right decision, restoring protection for bedrock First Amendment principles,” said Alexander Kazam, partner at King & Spalding LLP, which serves as co-counsel in the matter. “As the Supreme Court reaffirmed in Carson v. Makin, public benefits cannot be denied to families who opt for faith-based instruction in education-choice programs.”
“Our clients simply want to be free to choose curricula that fits their families’ needs without facing religious discrimination,” said Kayla Toney, Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “But instead of supporting these parents’ commitment to their children’s religious upbringing, these California programs expelled the Dodsons and refused to give credit to the Woolard and Gonzales children for their worksheets simply because they mentioned God or came from religious publishers. The Constitution does not permit that singling out of religion for disfavored treatment.”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact Natalie Konstans at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
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