COLORADO
School Districts Adjust to New Law
This past April, Colorado homeschoolers saw months of hard work pay off when Governor Roy Romer signed Senate Bill 4, the new home school law. However, many school districts across Colorado still do not seem to realize that the law has changed in favor of homeschoolers, and are attempting to impose the old requirements. In Englewood, a Home School Legal Defense Association member family was faced with a policy that required their children to be evaluated when they reached the "equivalent age" for grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. The school district also insisted that the children be given the same national standardized achievement test used by local school districts, and that the test be administered through the public schools.
Attorney Christopher Klicka of HSLDA responded on behalf of the family, making it clear that, under Senate Bill 4, homeschoolers are allowed to use any standardized achievement test they choose. Furthermore, Senate Bill 4 repealed the equivalent age requirement for testing. Homeschoolers now need only have their children tested for grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. This allows parents to determine their child's grade level based on his progress rather than his age. The requirement that homeschoolers be tested only through the public schools is a violation of both the original home school law and the new law. Home schools clearly may choose to have their standardized tests administered privately.
In La Junta, an HSLDA family received a form entitled "Regulations for Establishment of Home-Based Education Programs." The La Junta regulations were fraught with errors similar to those of Englewood. They required homeschoolers to use the local school district's notification form, a requirement that was repealed in Senate Bill 4. La Junta also tried to require the family to have their children tested at the equivalent ages for grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11, and to use the same standardized test as the local public school. HSLDA responded to the school district, pointing out the various errors.
Several years ago, Delta County tried to prohibit homeschoolers from operating under the private school provisions, but backed off after tangling with HSLDA. This time the school district took a different approach, contacting HSLDA in order to get our analysis of Senate Bill 4 so that they would not misinterpret the law!
In Colorado Springs School District 20, HSLDA members received a form and a memorandum from the school district telling them that they were required to fill out the form and provide the grade level of the students. HSLDA contacted the school official and explained that both mandatory requirements exceeded the law. The school district wrote back and explained that they were revising the form to delete the grade information requirement and were now accepting letters from home school parents in place of the school district form.
In Denver, an HSLDA family was told that their home school would no longer be recognized by the school district since they had not sent the school district copies of their test scores. Christopher Klicka contacted the school district and made it clear that the home school law allows for test results to be submitted to "an independent or parochial school in the state of Colorado" in lieu of sending them to the local school district. Moreover, the law gives no specific deadline for submitting these scores.
In all of these situations and many others, HSLDA was successful in convincing the local school districts to correct their policies or to recognize the families who submitted only the information mandated by law.
