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GEORGIA

District threatens truancy charges

Ben Hill County School District has threatened truancy charges against parents who refuse to provide a copy of their high school diploma or general educational development (GED) certificate along with the declaration of intent to conduct a home study program. This controversy developed when the school district insisted that all homeschooling parents file the additional documentation, prompting a Home School Legal Defense Association member family to contact us for assistance. After sending a letter to the superintendent explaining that Georgia law does not require the filing of this additional documentation, HSLDA Senior Counsel Dewitt Black received a response from the school district attorney threatening truancy charges against families who do not comply with the district's demand. Black replied in a letter that had Georgia's legislature intended to require parents to submit documentation regarding their high school diploma or GED certificate, this language would have been included in the law governing home study programs. Black also told the attorney that HSLDA was prepared to defend any member families charged with truancy for not filing the additional documentation.

— Dewitt T. Black