OHIO
Questionnaires and Notifications
While wrapping up this school year and looking ahead to the next, school districts are trying to figure out why so many parents are giving up on the public schools and deciding to home school. Home School Legal Defense Association has been contacted by member families around the state who have received questionnaires from the public schools; the families are concerned about answering these questionnaires and how the information will be used. The purpose of the questionnaire is generally two-fold: (1) to determine why the family has chosen to home educate (Has the public school done something wrong?), and (2) to find out what the public school can do to convince the family to re-enroll their children.
Home educators are not required to respond to any of these types of contacts from public schools; however, the very fact that so many families decline to respond should be an indicator to public school officials of just how far the level of confidence in public schools has declined.
Families who have left the public school to home educate their children still have to contend with school officials who frequently overstep the requirements of Ohio home education regulations. At this time of year, the most common error committed by school officials is to set deadlines for submission of the end-of-year academic assessment or the annual notification.
Another source of irritation to the homeschooler is the "approval" language still used by so many superintendents, or the failure to respond to the annual notification parents provide as required by the regulations. Although these issues can be irritating and time-consuming, homeschoolers are grateful for Ohio's clearly defined home education regulations which have virtually silenced the litigation that was taking place in the state prior to 1989.
Notification of Intent to Homeschool
The next hurdle is the annual notification for the 1997-98 school year. While there is no deadline in the regulations for submitting the notification, once the public school year begins, children are required to either be in school or excused from attendance at public school. In other words, your notification needs to be in when school begins—don't assume that, because there is no deadline, you can submit your notification at the end of September or in October. Once school begins, children who are not "excused" can be considered truant. HSLDA recommends you submit your notification no later than the first week of school.
