As the FIRST alternative school in the WORLD to offer home study credit through correspondence for grades K-12, enrollment of students who study at home actually began at SFCS in 1974, when the political climate for educational alternatives was not at all favorable. Under heavy fire from state agencies seeking to limit parental choice only to government-regulated programs, SFCS sued the New Mexico State Board of Education and won a unanimous NM Supreme Court decision in 1975 which stated: "There is no constitutional authority granted to the Board to supervise or exercise control over private...schools."
(SFCS v. NM State Board of Education, 86 NM 783)

Subsequently, through our membership in the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools (NCACS), SFCS encouraged other member schools to incorporate such a homeschooling service in their schools, and many did. (A DIRECTORY of alternative schools is available , postage paid , for $16.00 from NCACS, 1266 Rosewood, Unit 1 Ann Arbor MI 48104-6205.) Having won the legal right NOT to be accredited by the State Board of Education, SFCS was instrumental in creating both a regional accrediting agency for alternative schools in the southwest -- the Rio Grande Education Association (RGEA) -- and a national accreditation agency for member schools of the NCACS -- the National Association for the Legal Support of Alternative Schools (NALSAS).

Is the Santa Fe Community School Accredited? Yes. Please see our FAQ page for full information.

Ed Nagel, who is now our principal, was then one of the founders of the homeschooling movement and was a Charter member of the National Homeschooling Association (NHA), former Chair and National Office Manager of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools (NCACS).

Nagel is the author of CHEEZ!, a controversial book on alternative education at the Santa Fe Community School. Referring to CHEEZ!, education author John Holt wrote: "Never mind trying to change the school, or start a new one; just take the kids out altogether. I have never seen and could not have imagined a stronger argument for this position than this book (CHEEZ!)".

In 1976, Nagel advocated precisely that---"...take your kids out altogether" and enroll them in an alternative school like SFCS and teach them at home ---as one of the legal options described in his article, "HOW TO AVOID COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE AT PUBLIC SCHOOLS", published in a national education magazine, the New Schools Exchange. This information about our Home Study Program at SFCS was then published by educator/author John Holt in a footnote to his then upcoming book, Instead Of Education.

In 1979, another article by Nagel, "A School Without A School (Home Study Thru SFCS)" was published in the national magazine, MOTHERING, by which short time SFCS had enrolled over 100 students nationwide, indicating a demand that was to grow into the homeschooling movement that today meets the needs of well over a million families, all of whom can now legally "school" their children at home.