Florida
Time for Annual Evaluation Disputed
In Florida, local school districts are not authorized to prescribe the deadline for filing the annual educational evaluation for home schooled children. However, as in previous years, a number of districts are still insisting that parents submit the annual evaluation for their children by a school district-selected date (often June 30).
The statute governing home education programs requires parents to provide for an annual educational evaluation which documents the pupil’s demonstration of educational progress at a level commensurate with his or her ability. But, the school year for a home education program does not have to coincide with that of the public school, so parents are free to file the evaluation at any time so long as it is done annually.
Home School Legal Defense Association member families encountering difficulties with public school officials about the time for filing the annual evaluation should contact our office for assistance.
Extracurricular Activities Law Changed
On April 20, 2000, Governor Jeb Bush signed into law Senate Bill 92, changing a law regarding interscholastic extracurricular student activities at the public school. Some of these changes will affect students in home education programs desiring to participate in these activities. Prior law stated that an individual home education student was eligible to participate at a public school and could develop an agreement to participate at a nonpublic school. The new law limits the eligibility of a home education student to participate at the public school “to which the student would be assigned according to district school attendance area policies or which the student could choose to attend pursuant to district or interdistrict controlled open enrollment provisions.” Further, the new law appears to require home education students to choose between either participation at a public school or a nonpublic school, not both. — Dewitt T. Black
