Sacramento is the epicenter of the debate over whether the Waldorf system – whose educational philosophy goes back 100 years – is appropriate for a public school.

While enrollment climbs, the district faces a lawsuit this summer from a Northern California group that claims the Waldorf system cannot be separated from founder Rudolf Steiner’s religious philosophy, making public Waldorf schools ineligible to receive taxpayer dollars.

An unconventional Austrian philosopher’s influence has stretched across a century to specialty vineyards and inventive classrooms in Sonoma County that share his vision for bringing a “life force” to the tilling of soil and cultivating of young minds.

With its trademark affection for liberal politics and alternative practices, this suburban-to-rural county has become fertile ground for the ideas hatched in the early 20th century by quirky, controversial Rudolf Steiner.

Waldorf critics abound…

If all goes well, 100 Waldorf School students in grades 1 through 8 will be moving out of their temporary classrooms in a Santa Monica church and into their new school in Pacific Palisades next month.

Napa Valley Charter School has alleged connection to Waldorf teaching of Anthroposophy

Parents claim charter school is not religious

KSL TV, May 9, 2003

Critics say the public schools' teaching method is religious

National Post (Canada), Nov. 16, 2002