Ari Armstrong's Web Log (Main) | Archives | Terms of Use
The Colorado Sun's 2018 Fearmongering about Homeschoolers
Karen Augé stretched the facts to promote her political agenda.
by Ari Armstrong, Copyright © 2025
May 30, 2025
"For some, home schooling is not about learning. It's about hiding child abuse. Colorado's lax oversight for home-schooled children removes one common method of spotting abusive behavior." That is the absurdly biased headline and subhead of a 2018 fearmongering "news" article by Karen Augé for the Colorado Sun. CPR ran a variation of this headline based on Augé's work. (The "one method," by the way, is teacher reporting.)
On April 22, 2025, Complete Colorado published my article in which I mention Augé's reporting but do not go into detail about it. Here I want to offer a detailed critique.
I write in my column, "People who call for tighter controls of homeschoolers (and sometimes also of private schools) do not hold public schools to the same standards. If monitoring and oversight guaranteed safety, then public schools would be the safest places in the world. But they are not." I proceed to list some examples of crimes and bullying in Colorado's public schools, and I've expanded that list on my web site.
Summarizing the Problems with Attacks on Homeschoolers
I want to start off here by by summarizing five main problems that characterize all attacks such as the one Augé makes:
First, they ignore or downplay the typical experience of homeschooling, which generally is great (as it is for my family).
Second, often they conflate families who legally homeschool with parents who unlawfully keep their children out of school.
Third, they treat all homeschoolers with suspicion based on the abuse or neglect of a small number of parents who fraudulently claim to homeschool.
Fourth, they treat government monitoring in idealized terms while ignoring its downsides and costs. Compare: Nobody calls for stricter government monitoring of all parents with children younger than school age, because that would be crazy and authoritarian.
Fifth (as I note in my column), they fail to evaluate public schools by comparable standards. Those who focus on abuse in alleged "homeschool" families while ignoring abuse in public (and private) schools show an obvious bias that typically masks a political agenda.
Legal Requirements for Homeschooling
Before further exploring Augé's article, I want to summarize the legal requirements for homeschooling in Colorado.
The Department of Education reproduces the relevant statutes. To officially homeschool in Colorado, generally a parent must register with a school district; organize a "home-based educational program [that] shall include no less than one hundred seventy-two days of instruction, averaging four instructional contact hours per day"; include the basic subjects (as listed); keep records and make them available to a district on request; and arrange for testing or evaluations every other year and submit results to a district.
Alternately, a parent who is a licensed teacher can homeschool without following the stipulations above, per statutes 22-33-104.
As yet a third alternative, many "homeschoolers" actually enroll in a private "umbrella school." Such students are not officially "homeschooling" per the state but enrolled in private school.
What you can't legally do is just take your kids out of school and say you're "homeschooling" while ignoring the relevant laws. Neglecting to enroll your kids in school is not remotely the same thing as homeschooling.
A deeper look at Augé's article
Augé begins with several horrific cases of child abuse, then writes: "The settings, the facts and circumstances are different. But the cases have one common denominator: the parents or caregivers accused of unthinkable abuse had removed the children from school, claiming they planned to home school them."
She immediately concedes, "The vast majority of parents home schooling nearly 2 million children in the United States do it with good intentions and good results." Then she adds, "But for a small minority, home schooling is not about learning, but rather an easy—and unchallenged—means to hide abuse."
Augé quickly lets slip her political agenda: "In Colorado, as most states, home-schooling families can expect little, if any, oversight. . . . Colorado law doesn't . . . provide any uniform means for . . . ensuring the safety of children who are home schooled." In other words, goes the implication of this activist journalism passing as news, government should more severely regulate and monitor homeschoolers.
But the connection between child abuse and "homeschooling" is tenuous at best. Augé conflates cases of actual homeschooling with cases of child abuse that don't even involve homeschooling or that involve fraudulent claims of homeschooling. Most people who abuse their children send them to public schools. Some cases of child abuse involve adults at schools, where "oversight" supposedly is in play. And, even in the tiny number of cases where abuse is tied to claims of homeschooling (fraudulent or otherwise), government already has ample tools to investigate child abuse. Requiring government agents to more-carefully monitor the overwhelming majority of responsible homeschool parents would spread resources more thinly and divert attention from actual problems.
Augé describes five cases dating back to 2007, four from Colorado and one from California. Let's look at those cases in more detail.
The murder of Chandler Grafner
One case, that of the horrific 2007 death of Chandler Grafner, was a foster-care case in which a government-appointed guardian, Jon Phillips, and his girlfriend Sarah Berry, had the boy "locked in a closet, dehydrated and starved," reports Courthouse News.
But this case has nothing to do with homeschooling, and Augé provides no evidence that it does.
As Adams County states, fostered children are not allowed to homeschool; "children in foster care are required to attend public school." Other counties convey the same information. I am not aware of any exceptions.
What this case is really about is the utter failure of government agencies to follow up on repeated reports of abuse. As Courthouse News relates, "[Christina] Grafner [the boy's biological mother] reported fearing that [Jon] Phillips [the foster guardian who eventually murdered the boy] would harm Chandler, but human services allegedly failed to update Chandler's case in a statewide automated reporting system."
Moreover, Courthouse News reports, "Chandler's school repeatedly reported abuse concerns to the county."
Again, this case has no connection to homeschooling. The only grain of truth to Augé insinuation to the contrary is that, as Courthouse News reports, "Phillips withdrew Chandler from school on March 9 [2007, two months before the boy died], and the school filed another report in April." Unlawfully keeping a child out of school is not remotely the same thing as legally homeschooling.
This is a case of government agents not doing their jobs and of an utterly failed foster placement. As Colorado Politics reported just last year, "A federal judge determined . . . that two child welfare workers in Denver will stand trial in a civil negligence case over the 2007 death of a boy at the hands of his guardians."
The Case of Amanda Jolliff
The Greeley Tribune reports, "Amanda Jolliff, 39, was sentenced in March 2012 for charges of child abuse and false imprisonment" dating to 2011. The woman kept "her at-risk teenage son padlocked in their filthy, mice-infested trailer for more than three years."
In this case, Jolliff did claim to neighbors to "homeschool" her son, even though obviously she did not do so. The Denver Post reported, in 2016, "The boy told authorities he was removed from school in 2008 and registered as a home-schooled student, but never received instruction." I have no way to check the claim that the boy was legally "registered" as a homeschooler; the boy probably was in no position to know this. As the Post reports, the St. Vrain Valley School District did not comment.
This case does not, however, support Augé's thesis that the problem is lack of oversight of homeschoolers. Again, the case is about government agents failing to do their jobs to protect children. The Post reports, "Since January 2008, there have been 22 calls for service at Jolliff's residence. Disturbances. Animal issues. Criminal mischief. Medical calls." Police picked the boy up in 2010 to return him home. Here's what Erie Police Chief John Hall told the Post: "Now that we've got this case, you look back and say, 'Gee, why didn't we know?'" Great question.
Contrary to Augé's claims, this is not a case of insufficient opportunities for government oversight; it is a case of government agents having ample opportunities to intervene in a child-neglect case and failing spectacularly to do so.
The Case of David and Vanessa Hall
Here is how Augé describes the case at hand: "In 2017, David and Vanessa Hall, the parents of the 16-year-old Longmont boy—whose doctors said was suffering kidney failure and resembled a concentration camp inmate when he arrived at the hospital—were sentenced to 10 years in prison."
As the Longmont Times-Call reports, the boy had not attended school "in at least nine years." Again, unlawfully keeping one's child out of school is not remotely the same thing as legally homeschooling. Augé presents no evidence that the Halls took any action to comply with Colorado's homeschool laws, and I found no such indication.
This story takes a happier turn. As the Times-Call reports, the boy went to live with an aunt in Florida where he began to regain his health and attended school where he was "adored by teachers and friends."
The Case of Jeremy Costley
Augé writes that Jeremy Costley was "a leader in the so-called sovereign movement, which rejects the authority of the U.S. government. Costley lived in a ramshackle shack in remote Costilla County, where the family, including several children, were largely isolated. In May, Costley was arrested on multiple charges of repeated child sexual abuse. His trial is set for December."
Strangely, Augé does not explicitly claim that Costley homeschooled his children or provide any evidence that he did. She does say that the children "were largely isolated." However, I pinged Chris Walker, the author of a 2017 Westword article on the "Sovereign Movement" that discusses Costley, and Walker said that Jessica Costley (Jeremy's wife) told him, "We home school the kids and they're with us 24/7. We're always together."
Jennifer Costley's claims do not prove that the Costleys were legally homeschooling their children. I find it hard to believe that a "sovereign movement" sort of guy followed state rules regarding homeschooling. Again, unlawfully keeping one's kids out of school is not the same thing as lawfully homeschooling.
I did not decisively run down what happened with the assault charges against Costley. A 2017 article from the Conejos County Citizen confirms that Costley was arrested in 2017. A 2022 article from Colorado Politics reported that a state court overturned Costley's "conviction for impersonating a peace officer," but that article doesn't mention the assault charges. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation lists Costley as a registered sex offender with a felony conviction.
Given that Costley already was on the government's radar and that it's unclear if he was legally homeschooling his children, it's not plausible that tighter restrictions on homeschoolers would have offered any greater protection to the children in Costley's care.
The California Turpin Case
Augé also includes the 2018 California case of David and Louise Turpin, who horribly abused their children. For this story Augé links to a Desert Sun article. Wikipedia also reviews the case.
This case has a clear connection to a fraudulent sort of homeschooling. The Press-Enterprise reports, "The seven adult children of David and Louise Turpin, the Perris couple accused in a torture and child cruelty case, didn't get an education at the Turpins' home school, a prosecutor said. . . . For eight school years, from 2010-11 to 2017-18, David Turpin filed Private School Affidavits with the state affirming under penalty of perjury that he was operating a home school and giving the students—all the couple's children—a full-time education." The Desert Sun points out the obvious, that the parents' so-called "schooling" was "in violation of standards."
The Turpin case is absolutely horrific, and it demonstrates that government agencies should take seriously their responsibility to investigate child abuse.
Let's put Augé's article in a broader context.
The Effort to Tighten California Homeschool Regulations
The Turpin case led to a political effort to more strictly regulate California homeschoolers. "In response to the investigation, lawmakers proposed legislation that would require stricter regulations for home schools," the Desert Sun reported.
Another Desert Sun article described two California bills introduced in 2018, AB 2756 and AB 2926, to require the state to keep more records on private schools and to set up an advisory committee to make further recommendations. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education endorsed both bills.
The California Family Council, a religious organization, reports that AB 2756 "originally demanded all homeschool families in California submit to involuntary home inspections," but "after a massive outcry from the homeschooling community" the legislative sponsor "removed the inspection requirement." Then the entire measure died in committee. AB 2926 also was defeated.
Various media beat the drum loudly for harsher controls. A quick search pulled up the following headlines:
Mother Jones: "A California Couple Abused Their 13 Kids—and Weak Homeschooling Rules Helped Them Do It."
CNN: "California torture case raises questions about home school regulation."
Los Angeles Times: "Turpin abuse case prompts state bill to tighten regulation of home schools."
NBC: "'California torture house' case exposes lack of oversight of home schools."
NPR: "California Lawmakers Consider How To Regulate Home Schools After Abuse Discovery."
In this light, it seems like Augé was trying to write the Colorado version of this story, but she stretched the facts to promote her agenda.