Legal / Legislative Updates

OKLAHOMA

School concedes form was voluntary

In Braggs, a Home School Legal Defense Association member family sent a letter notifying the school district that they were withdrawing their daughter from public school for the purpose of homeschooling her.

The public school system replied with a form entitled “Home School.”^* It did not state whether returning the form was voluntary or mandatory. The form recited the state compulsory attendance law and said that home instruction must be “supplied in good faith and must be equivalent to the education provided by the state,” paraphrasing an opinion of the Oklahoma Attorney General. There were spaces for the parent to insert his or her name and the name of the child, as well as a table to list the subjects to be taught and the time to be spent teaching those subjects.

In Oklahoma, the law requires no notice or form of any kind.

HSLDA quickly called Braggs School District to find out whether it was treating the form as mandatory or voluntary. The district conceded that its form was purely voluntary and that families did not need to respond.

Unfortunately, Braggs had misled families by failing to disclose that the form was purely voluntary. We exhorted the district to make it clear in the future that the form is voluntary.

If you reside in the Braggs School District and receive a similar form, we recommend that you disregard it.