OHIO
Clearing Up Confusion in Cambridge
The last issue of the Court Report discussed numerous school districts that were exceeding their authority by requesting home schoolers to provide a variety of items not required by the regulations. The most recent example of this problem is a contact received by a Home School Legal Defense Association member family in the Cambridge City Schools.
The family submitted a notice of intent for three children and received a reply from the superintendent indicating their "application" had been "approved." The letter went on to state, however, that at the end of the 1994/95 school year the superintendent would need to review certain records for the children. The requested documentation included "records, test scores, work completed, etc. in order to identify credits completed for validation." The superintendent said he needed to make this evaluation to determine "that the materials are being completed on a regular basis." He also indicated that compliance with this request was a condition for "approval" for home schooling in the following year.
HSLDA sent a letter to the superintendent of the Cambridge City Schools outlining the areas where the school district was exceeding its authority in requesting such material from home schoolers. First, school districts do not have approval authority. If a home school family submits a notification containing all the required information, the child is deemed "excused" from public school attendance.
Secondly, standardized testing is not mandatory. Requiring home school families to submit test scores is clearly outside the scope of the school district's authority.
Lastly, it was clear from the superintendent's letter that he felt it was his job to conduct an evaluation, presumably to determine if academic progress is being made. The home school regulations, however, allow parents, not the school district, to make decisions regarding evaluation of academic progress. As every Ohio home schooler and superintendent should know, parents have three options for evaluating academic progress: (1) standardized testing administered by a person authorized by the publisher of the test; (2) written evaluation by an Ohio certified teacher; or (3) some other method mutually agreed upon by the superintendent and the parents.
It is unfortunate that we must continue to deal with school officials who abuse their authority, or are not familiar with the home school regulations. This is especially true in light of the fact that the current home school law has been in existence for five years. We must continue to remind school officials that the regulations are binding not only on home schoolers, but on school districts as well.
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