Florida
Miami-Dade County Public Schools Overstep Legal Bounds
Home School Legal Defense Association has discovered that Miami-Dade County Public Schools is utilizing a registration form which contains language about “enrollment” of students being taught in a home education program. In response to a member family’s concern about the use of this form, HSLDA contacted the local district by letter and expressed objections to the use of any form or terminology implying that students in a home education program are registered or enrolled in the public school.
State law does not prescribe the use of any particular form for fulfilling the notification requirements when commencing a home education program. Unlike most states with notification requirements, Florida law does not require that the notice be given annually. Parents are only required to file a written notice of termination with the local school district within 30 days of termination of the program.
Portfolio reviews are troublesome requirements added by Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ intrusive policy. According to the district, a social worker must schedule an appointment to review the pupil’s portfolio and “document what type of textbooks and curriculum are used.” State law requires that the portfolio of records and materials maintained by the home schooling parent be made available for inspection by the superintendent or his agent upon 15 days’ written notice. But the right to inspect the portfolio does not give the superintendent or his agent the authority to enter a family’s home. The inspection of the portfolio may take place at any location convenient to the parents and school officials. The portfolio is to consist of a log of educational activities made contemporaneously with the instruction which designates by title any reading materials used, samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed by the student. In no case does the superintendent or his designee have the authority under the statute to “document what type of textbooks or curriculum are used,” as intended by officials at Miami-Dade County Public Schools. HSLDA’s letter advised school officials that our member families do not intend to permit this type of invasive oversight of the curriculum by a social worker or any other public school official.
|
|
Florida
Admitted to statehood:
March 3, 1845
Origin of name:
Named La Florida, “Land of Flowers,” by Ponce de Leon, who first sighted it in 1513 on Easter Sunday, Pascua Florida, in Spanish.
Motto:
In God we trust.
|
|
