This Homeschooling Mom Is Fighting An Oregon School For Religious Freedom

When an Oregon school district denied Tessa Bulzan’s request to reimburse homeschooling curriculum due to its Christian character, she took her case to court.

Bulzan, a mother of five, saw her finances tighten when she quit her corporate job to homeschool her kids. So when she heard that her children’s school district offered a reimbursement program to help families fund their kids’ homeschooling, she decided to make use of it.

“My calling is to be at home with my children, to grow them up in God’s word, and to make them a productive portion of society with good moral character,” Bulzan told The Daily Wire. “I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen, and to make that happen for other parents who feel like they have no voice, who feel like the school district is so big.”

But when Bulzan submitted her receipts at the end of the first semester, the Hillsboro School District refused to reimburse her, saying it was “due to the Christian and biblical worldview that is taught” and that “Christian beliefs and themes [that] are integrated throughout core subject areas,” court documents say.

“When the district sets up this kind of program to benefit families by providing funding for homeschooling, it can’t exclude religious curriculum,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Kate Anderson, who represents Bulzan, told The Daily Wire. “It has to treat it on the same footing as secular curriculum.” 

Bulzan says she confirmed with the program’s representative beforehand that she could use any curriculum, including one with religious themes.

“To not have the ability to get my curriculum paid for has been very challenging from a financial perspective, and honestly, it’s my kids now losing out on other things because we have to figure out where we can and when we can get the money to start getting additional curriculum,” Bulzan said.

While the Hillsboro School District’s Homeschooling Partnership refused to fund faith-based curricula for core subjects, the program offers reimbursement for books such as “Julián Is a Mermaid,” which describes a boy who joins a parade with adult men in drag. The program reimburses “We Are Water Protectors,” a book that discusses the “sacred relationship” between humanity and “Mother Earth.” In the book, the girl claims that water “has its own spirit” and tells of a prophecy of her ancestors. The school district seemingly has no problem reimbursing materials advancing these religious views.

Bulzan noted the district’s inconsistencies, as it reimbursed her for a math curriculum called “Math-U-See,” even though its author holds a Christian worldview.

“It is very interesting how they’re picking and choosing what is offered,” Bulzan said. “It’s just very confusing why they get to pick and choose the winners and losers of curriculum and who gets funded and who does not.”

Bulzan’s eldest son is speeding through his math books, but the family is struggling to buy more without getting reimbursed, she said.

“It is very expensive, and if I don’t get the reimbursement that I need, then he gets slowed down, and I don’t want him to be slowed down,” Bulzan told The Daily Wire.

Bulzan’s case rests on the First Amendment’s free exercise clause and the 14th Amendment’s protection of parental rights, Anderson said.

“It was simply the religious character of the curriculum that was the reason it was being excluded,” Anderson told The Daily Wire. “And when you have a district set up this kind of a public benefit program and then exclude religious families, effectively religious curriculum, that is a violation of the Constitution.”

Anderson said the Constitution protects parents’ right to direct their kids’ education and upbringing. Parents have the right to homeschool their kids and educate them in the ways they think are best and in accordance with their faith, she said.

“I think it’s important for readers to understand what’s at stake here: the ability for families to access educational funding programs on equal footing, religious families on equal footing with families that are seeking a secular education,” Anderson told The Daily Wire. “And it’s really important that parents be able to raise their kids and educate them according to their belief, without being discriminated against in a public funding program.”