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Oregon
Administrative Rules Adopted
An May 16, 2000, the Oregon State Board of Education adopted new administrative rules to supplement the new home school law enacted by the legislative assembly in July 1999. (See July/August 1999 Court Report for details about the new statutes.) The recently adopted administrative rules detail the procedures to be followed by parents and public school officials in home schooling.
Major provisions include the following:
The one-time written notice given by parents to the education service district (ESD) of beginning home schooling is to be submitted within 10 days of beginning instruction or withdrawing the child from public or private school. Parents moving to a new ESD should provide written notice of their intent to continue home schooling within 10 days of arriving in the new ESD. The parent of a child who turns seven after September 1 is not required to provide notice of intent to home school until the beginning of the next school year.
The written notice should contain the following information: (1) the child’s and the parent’s names, address, telephone number (optional), and e-mail address (optional), (2) the child’s birth date, and (3) the name of the school the child is presently attending, or last attended, or if the child has not attended school, the name of the public school district in which the child resides.
Standardized testing required in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 is to be completed no later than August 15 in the required years. The first year is defined as when the child is seven by September 1, or earlier at the parent’s discretion.
A “qualified neutral person” selected by the parent or guardian to administer standardized tests is an individual who has no relationship by bloodline or marriage to the child. Additionally, this individual must meet one of the following qualifications: (1) hold a current personnel service license or teaching license from the Oregon Teacher’s Standard and Practices Commission, (2) have been licensed by the Oregon Board of Psychological Examiners, (3) meet the publisher’s qualifications for purchase and have purchased at least one approved test, (4) provide evidence of satisfactory completion of a graduate course in which test administration and interpretation is included in the objective, or (5) have previously qualified as a tester and during the previous year administered at least one test from the approved list.
The approved tests from which a parent or guardian may choose are the two most recent versions of the California Achievement Test, Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills/Tests of Achievement and Proficiency, Metropolitan Achievement Battery, and Stanford Achievement Test Battery.
In the area of special education, “satisfactory educational progress” for children with disabilities is defined as “educational progress across academic and/or developmental areas appropriate to the child’s age and abilities.” The student is not required to complete all goals contained in an individualized educational program (IEP) through the school district or a privately developed plan (PDP) in order for there to be a determination that the student is making satisfactory educational progress.
The rules define a “privately developed plan” as “an individual plan developed by a team including the parent and one or more private service providers to address the educational needs of a child with a disability.” As stated in the statutory law, privately developed plans are a recognized option for parents who do not want to receive special education services through the public school.
The resident school district must offer the parent of a child with a disability the opportunity for an IEP meeting to consider providing special education and related services to the child who is being home schooled. An IEP will only be developed for this child if the IEP team determines that a free appropriate public education can be provided in conjunction with home schooling.
Other provisions in the rules either repeat or expand the law as enacted by the legislative assembly. As the 2000–01 school year approaches, Home School Legal Defense Association will be actively involved in dealing with the inevitable questions which arise from new regulations. — Dewitt T. Black
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