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A California father of five says his family’s public charter school rejected homeschooling materials that merely mentioned God or faith, even when the books met state academic standards, forcing his family to pay out of pocket for educational resources he says other parents could access with public funds.
John Woolard told Fox News Digital that he and his wife initially had no problems using a public charter school program that allowed them to educate their children at home. But he said they eventually discovered that their curriculum choices were being scrutinized for religious content.
“Any book or curriculum purchase that we wanted to make that referenced God or faith in even like an adjacent sort of way was being denied,” Woolard said.
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John Woolard, his wife Breanna, and their family. (First Liberty Institute)
He described what he called a “publisher blacklist” and said the restrictions extended beyond explicitly Christian instructional materials.
Woolard said he even encountered problems with books examining the religious beliefs of America’s Founding Fathers.
“You would think that that would be something that would be non-controversial, but those curriculum choices would be denied,” he said.
For Woolard, the dispute goes beyond religious expression. As a father of five, he said the charter school program provided a cost-effective way to tailor the curriculum to each child’s individual needs.
But when the school rejected certain curriculum purchases, he said, his family was left covering the costs.
“If our curriculum choices are denied, then we have to pay for those resources, we have to pay for those curriculum choices out of pocket,” Woolard told Fox News Digital.
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The Woolard kids studying. (First Liberty Institute)
Woolard said he pressed school officials to explain why the materials were being rejected.
He asked whether the curriculum met California standards and whether it was academically rigorous enough. According to Woolard, the answer to both questions was yes.
“So, at the end of the day, the only objection that you have to this curriculum, our curriculum choices, is that there’s a faith component to it,” Woolard said he recalled asking.
He said both a teacher and principal acknowledged that the religious component was the objection.
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John and Breanna Woolard. (First Liberty Institute)
“What that tells me is that equality only extends as far as what the government approves,” he said.
Stephanie Taub, senior counsel with First Liberty Institute, characterized the policy as discriminatory toward families seeking a faith-based education during an interview with Fox News Digital.
“What we’re asking here is California has a policy that singles out parents who want to give their children a faith-based education, and it excludes them from homeschooling benefits that would otherwise be available,” the attorney said.
Taub said the family is seeking Supreme Court intervention after an unfavorable lower-court decision.
Woolard said he hopes the justices will ultimately force California to change its approach.
“What I really hope is for the government or for the Supreme Court to come back and tell California you got the decision wrong and this is the way to correct it,” he said.
He added that such a ruling could “break open California for a lot of families” seeking similar changes.
Taub said the Supreme Court is considering whether to take the case and that she expects to hear whether the justices will review it in the next few months.
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The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to take up a case challenging California’s restrictions on religious materials in publicly funded homeschooling programs. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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A spokesperson for the California Department of Education told Fox News Digital that the department cannot comment on pending litigation.