Legality of homeschooling in the United States
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The legality of homeschooling in the United States has been the source of debate among educators, lawmakers, and parents since the beginnings of compulsory school in Massachusetts in 1852. For decades the source of debate was focused whether it was legal for parents to withhold their children from mandated state school programs and educate them in a home setting. Since the late 1980's, that focus has shifted away from the legality of homeschooling itself and toward the debate over the homeschooling community's access to state school funds, facilities, and resources and the degree of control that a state can exercise on homeschooling families regarding areas like curricula and standardized testing.
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[edit] Legal precedents
In the U.S., homeschooling is legal in all 50 states. In some states homeschooling parents are occasionally faced with prosecution under truancy laws. The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on homeschooling specifically, but in Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972)[1] it supported the rights of Amish parents to keep their children out of public schools for religious reasons. Many other court rulings have established or supported the right of parents to provide home education.
Every state has some form of a compulsory attendance law that requires children in a certain age range to spend a specific amount of time being educated. The most common way for parents to meet these requirements is to have their children attend public school.
Only a short time after compulsory attendance laws became common in the United States, Oregon adopted a statute outlawing private schools which the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently struck down as unconstitutional in its 1925 ruling in Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, 268 U.S. 510 (1925)[2]. The Court held that a state may not prohibit a parent from satisfying a compulsory attendance requirement by sending their children to private school. This case has frequently been cited by other courts in support of the proposition that parents have a right to satisfy compulsory attendance requirements though home instruction. Parents' right to homeschool their children has clearly been established through subsequent court decisions to such an extent that any statute attempting to forbid it entirely would certainly be struck down on constitutional or other grounds.
[edit] Types of homeschooling laws
Homeschooling laws can be divided into three categories:
- In some states, homeschooling requirements are based on its treatment as a type of private school (California, Indiana, Texas, for example) In those states, homeschools are generally required to comply with the same laws that apply to other (usually non-accredited) schools.
- In other states, homeschool requirements are based on the unique wording of the state's compulsory attendance statute without any specific reference to "homeschooling" (New Jersey, Maryland, for example). In those states, the requirements for homeschooling are set by the particular parameters of the compulsory attendance statute.
- In other states (Maine, New Hampshire, Iowa, for example) homeschool requirements are based on a statute or group of statutes that specifically applies to homeschooling, although these statutes often refer to homeschooling using other nomenclature (in Virginia, for example, the statutory nomenclature is "home instruction"; in South Dakota, it is "alternative instruction"; in Iowa, it is "competent private instruction"). In these states, the requirements for homeschooling are set out in the relevant statutes.
While every state has some requirements, there is great diversity in the type, number, and level of burden imposed. No two states treat homeschooling in exactly the same way. Generally, the burden is less in states in category 1, above. Furthermore, many states offer more than one option for homeschooling, with different requirements applying to each option.
[edit] Examples of state requirements
Some states do not require any notice of intent. Others require the filing of a notice with local school officials containing specified information. In conformity with the general trend to ease requirements however, only two states, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, still require parents to obtain approval prior to homeschooling. More onerous requirements even include the need to have a credentialed teacher supervise the homeschooled child's education.
Proponents of heavier requirements argue that they are a necessity in order to achieve the societal goal of having an educated public who are prepared to participate in democratic society. There are no scientific studies, however, that indicate heavier requirements produce better results. In general, standardized test scores in states with high requirements are no better than in states with lower requirements, casting doubt on the wisdom of placing high requirements on homeschooling since higher requirements create higher administrative costs.
In California, for example, homeschoolers must either a.) be part of a public homeschooling program through independent study or a charter school, b.) use a credentialed tutor, or c.) enroll their children in a qualified private school (Such private schools may be formed by the parents in their own home, or parents may utilize a number of private schools which offer some kind of independent study or distance learning options). All persons who operate private schools in California, including parents forming schools just for their own children, must file an annual affidavit with the Department of Education. They must offer certain courses of study (generally similar to the content required in public schools, but described in one page rather than the hundreds of pages of scope and sequence requirements that public schools must follow) and must keep attendance records, but are otherwise not subject to any state oversight. There is no requirement in California that any private school teachers, whether the school is large or small, must have state credentials, although all teachers must be "capable of teaching".
Texas, which is considered to be very friendly toward homeschooling (after losing a landmark case when it attempted to outlaw homeschooling), has very minimal requirements. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has no authority to regulate home schools (TEA considers home schools to be equivalent to "unaccredited private schools"; TEA states that private schools are not required to be accredited, and it has no authority to regulate those either). The requirements (based totally on state law, or more precisely the absence of state law), are based on a near-laissez faire attitude toward homeschooling, and are as follows:
- State law only requires that a school (of any type) curriculum 1) must teach "reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and a study of good citizenship" (the latter is interpreted to mean a course in civics), and 2) must be taught in a bona fide manner (which means there must be a real intent to actually provide education). Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) FAQ The curriculum may be of any type of media (textbooks, workbooks, other printed material, and computer-based of any type including the Internet) and can be obtained from any source(s) desired, and does not have to be approved or even provided to the state or the local school district.
- State law does not specify any minimum number of days in a year, or hours in a day, that must be met. Nor does it mandate a specific time of the day during which classes must be held; this has occasionally (according to the THSC) caused students to run afoul of local curfew laws.
- State law does not require achievement tests for home school graduating seniors.
- State law does not restrict home school families from combining into one group setting (though THSC cautions that whenever more than three children outside the family are involved, this could cause problems with local zoning ordinances and may also require a state license for child care).
- State law does not require registration or annual filings.
- State law does not require any teacher credentials, or any capability for that matter.
- State law requires notification only if the child was previously in a public school and is withdrawn; the notification required is merely a letter notifying the school district of the parent(s)' intent, and only one letter is required at the outset (annual letters are not required). Parents who home school from day one are not required to give any notice.
[edit] Testing and assessment
States also differ in their requirements regarding testing and assessment. Following the general trend toward easing requirements, fewer than half the states now require any testing or assessment. In some states, homeschoolers are required either to submit the results of a standardized test (sometimes from an established list of tests) or to have a narrative evaluation done by a qualified teacher. Other states give parents wide lattitude in the type of assessment to be submitted.
Again, using California as an example, students enrolled in a public program are encouraged to take the same year-end standardized tests that all public school students take, but students using tutors or enrolled in any private school, homeschool or not, are not required to take any tests. Texas also does not require standardized tests for any student outside the public school arena, and absence of such tests cannot be used to discriminate against enrollment in higher education.
[edit] Recognition of completion
There are also differences between the states in graduating children from homeschools. In states in which homeschools must be or can be operated as any other private school, graduation requirements for all private schools in that state generally also apply to the homeschools. Some state education laws have no graduation requirements for private schools, leaving it up to the private schools to determine which students have met the graduation requirements, and thusly allowing homeschoolers the same privilege (for example, as stated above, Texas considers home schools to be equivalent to unaccredited private schools). And in yet other states, homeschoolers receive no official recognition that is equivalent to graduation. Independent homeschoolers in Florida, for example, cannot truthfully claim to have "graduated", even after completing twelve years of homeschooling (however, Florida does grant such students equal access to the state's system of community colleges and universities).
Homeschooling is increasingly becoming recognized as a viable alternative to institutional education, and fewer families are being targeted for prosecution. In an unintended demonstration of the increasing acceptance of homeschooling, the outgoing Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of California, Delaine Eastin, caused a furor by telling the state legislature that homeschooling was illegal and that families could not form private schools themselves or teach their children without credentials. She called for a legislative "solution" to the growing "problem" of homeschooling. The legislature balked at taking any action. Then, Ms. Eastin's successor, Jack O'Connell, instructed his legal staff to review the state laws. Homeschooling advocates were informed by one of the Department of Education attorneys that the state was reversing the position it had taken under Ms. Eastin's tenure. Statements that parents could not teach their own children or form their own private schools were removed from the state Department of Education website. Although some officials still maintain traditional views, truancy prosecutions in California are much rarer now than they were under Ms. Eastin's leadership. Those prosecutions that are still pursued routinely fail, and district attorneys now usually refuse to file such cases.
[edit] Curricula
Curriculum requirements vary from state to state. Some states require homeschoolers to submit information about their curriculum or lesson plans. Other states (such as Texas) just require that certain subjects be covered and do not require submission of the curriculum. While many complete curricula are available from a wide variety of secular and religious sources, many families choose to use a variety of resources to cover the required subjects. In fact, it is not uncommon for a homeschooled student to earn a number of college credits from a 2- or 4-year college before completing the 12th grade.
Some states offer public-school-at-home programs. These on-line, or "virtual", public schools (usually "charter" schools) mimic major aspects of the homeschooling paradigm, for example, instruction occurs outside of a traditional classroom, usually in the home. However, students in such programs are truly public school students and are subject to all or most of the requirements of other public school students. When parents enroll their children in such a program, they effectively surrender control over the curriculum and program to the public school, although a casual observer might think they are homeschooling. Some public-school-at-home programs give parents leeway in curriculum choice; others require use of a specified curriculum. Full parental control over the curriculum and program, however, is a hallmark feature of homeschooling. Taxpayers pay the cost of providing books, supplies, and other needs, for public-school-at-home students, just as they do for conventional public school students. The U.S. Constitution's prohibition against "establishing" religion applies to public-school-at-home programs, so taxpayer money cannot lawfully be used to purchase a curriculum that is religious in nature.
[edit] Access to resources
A minority of states have statutes that require public schools to give homeschooled students access to district resources, such as school libraries, computer labs, extracurricular activities, or even academic courses. In some communities, homeschoolers meet with a teacher periodically for curriculum review and suggestions. The laws of some states give districts the option of giving homeschooled students access to such resources.
[edit] Advocacy Organizations
To help protect the rights of parents to legally homeschool their children membership organizations have been started. There are several national level groups
- Home School Legal Defense Association HSLDA (Their website is helpful for learning about each state's laws) [3]
- Alliance for Intellectual Freedom in Education [4]
- American Homeschool Association [5]
- National Home Education Network [6]
- Association of HomeSchool Attorneys [7]
- National Home Education Legal Defence [8]
Many states also have organizations. [9] Some believe state level groups are more effective because homeschool laws [10] are made at the state level.
