Serna

In two cases (consolidated below and here) defendants were charged in municipal court with violating section 12101 of the Education Code, in that they had wilfully and unlawfully refused to send their children to public schools. They were found guilty; on appeal, the superior court reversed the convictions. On certification by that court (rule 63(a), Cal. Rules of Court), we ordered the cases transferred to us for hearing and decision. We reverse the convictions.

In the municipal court, defendants sought to raise two defenses: (1) that they were the subject of invidious prosecution within the meaning of Murgia v. Municipal Court (1975) 15 Cal.3d 286 [ 124 Cal.Rptr. 204 , 540 P.2d 44 ]; and (2) that, the elementary school involved being “segregated” within the meaning of Crawford v. Board of Education (1976) 17 Cal.3d 280 [ 130 Cal.Rptr. 724 , 551 P.2d 28 ], they had a constitutional right to keep their children out of that public school.

I

We reject the second of those defenses. Similar contentions have been made, and rejected, in another jurisdiction (State v. Vaughn (1965) 44 N.J. 142 [ 207 A.2d 537 ], ) We are not cited to, nor have we discovered any California…