NORTH DAKOTA
New Home School Laws Enacted
As the result of the tireless lobbying efforts of Rev. Clinton Birst, executive director of the North Dakota Homeschool Association, three different bills affecting home educators passed the North Dakota Legislative Assembly in 1997. Amendments to the statutes governing home education programs provide greater freedom for homeschooling families. Other changes include permitting home school graduates to receive state-approved high school diplomas from a variety of sources and authorizing the homeschooling of autistic children.
Home School Statute Improvements
House Bill 1368, sponsored by Representatives Grande, Belter, and Boehm, significantly improved the 1989 home school statutes. Home School Legal Defense Association helped draft parts of the new legislation, and HSLDA attorney Dewitt Black testified before the House Education Committee in support of the proposed changes. While home educators did not get all they sought during this legislative session, significant improvements were made in the law. Highlights of the new law signed by Governor Edward T. Schafer on April 3, 1997 follow:
- Parents who are state-certified teachers may home educate under the private school statutes instead of the home education statutes.
- A parent with only a high school diploma or a GED certificate must be monitored by a certified teacher during the first two years of home instruction or until the child being instructed completes the 3rd grade, whichever is later. If the child scores below the 50th percentile on a required standardized achievement test during this time, the monitoring must continue in the following years until a score at or above the 50th percentile is achieved. (If testing is not required in either of the first two years of monitoring, the monitoring may not be extended without mutual consent of both parent and monitor.)
- If a monitor is required, the school district must provide the monitor at school district expense if requested to do so by the parent. The expenses of a monitor retained by the parent must be paid by the parent.
- Once the monitoring requirements for one child are completed, the parent may not be monitored with respect to other children being educated at home.
- Parents may begin a home education program at any time during the school year by filing a statement with the public school officials at least 14 days prior to beginning home instruction. New residents of the state must file the statement within 14 days of establishing the child's residency within the local school district.
- The statement of intent to conduct home education does not have to contain an oath or affirmation that the parent will comply with state law governing home education programs. (The department of public instruction had previously interpreted this provision of the old law to require that the oath or affirmation include the notarized signatures of the parent.)
- The new law clarifies that the parent chooses the test instrument and site for administering standardized achievement tests, and it further provides that the test may be any nationally-normed standardized achievement test. If the test is one used by the local school district, the cost of the test instrument is the responsibility of the school district. If the test chosen is not one used by the school district, the cost of the test instrument is the responsibility of the parent. The cost of administering the test is the responsibility of the school district if administered by a certified teacher employed by the school district, but the cost of having the test administered is the parents' responsibility if it is administered by a certified teacher secured by the parent.
- A plan of remediation to address academic deficiencies is required for any child who scores below the thirtieth percentile on required tests and is determined not to be in need of special education services. This plan must be developed in consultation with and by the approval of a state-certified teacher selected by the parent.
- If an evaluation determines that the child is in need of special education services, the parent has the right to have an individualized education program developed privately or through the local school district.
- The superintendent of public instruction no longer has the authority to adopt administrative rules to determine whether a child is making reasonable academic progress.
High School Diplomas
North Dakota continues to be the only state in the nation which confers high school diplomas on graduates of homeschools. House Bill 1456, enacted on April 9, 1997, changes the issuing authority of the diploma from the superintendent of public instruction to other approved entities.
Under the new law, a high school diploma may be issued to a home school student by the local school district, a state-approved nonpublic high school, or the North Dakota division of independent study if the student has met the issuing authority's requirements for high school graduation. Parents must also provide documentation indicating that the required courses were satisfactorily completed. In the alternative, a diploma may be issued if it can be shown that the student has completed at least 17 units of high school coursework from the minimum required curriculum offerings established for public and private schools under North Dakota law. Additionally, issuing entities may accept any other reasonable proof that the student has met the applicable requirements for high school graduation.
Homeschooling a Special Needs Child
Tacked onto an appropriations bill passed in the waning hours of the legislative session, a new provision allows parents to home school developmentally disabled children with autism, although under substantial scrutiny by public school officials. Prior to passage of this measure, North Dakota law expressly prohibited parents from homeschooling children who were considered to be developmentally disabled. Only children who are developmentally disabled by reason of autism would be subject to the requirements of the new law.
In addition to an initial diagnosis by a licensed psychologist, the autistic, developmentally disabled child must be evaluated three times during the school year by a licensed psychologist, an occupational therapist, a speech pathologist, and a certified teacher. If at any time, these professionals agree that adequate progress is not being made in accordance with a prescribed instructional plan, they must notify the local superintendent and request that the child be further evaluated by a multidisciplinary assessment team.
