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…