Legal / Legislative Updates

VIRGINIA

Family prevails in Franklin County

When the Almond family* sent their son’s standardized test scores to the Franklin County School District as usual this summer, they expected no problems. However, the district sent a letter saying their homeschool would be put on probation because their son’s score was below the required 23rd percentile. The official demanded that the family submit a remediation plan.

The member family asked Home School Legal Defense Association for help. After carefully analyzing the son’s test scores for the last two years, we discovered that although they were below the 23rd percentile each year, he had progressed more than one grade level.

HSLDA contacted the official to explain that while a score at or above the 23rd percentile is automatically acceptable, a lower score is also acceptable if it shows adequate progress—and one full year of progress is “adequate” progress. The official asked us to explain this in a letter.

A few days after HSLDA sent the requested letter, the Almonds received a letter from the official saying their homeschool program was no longer on probation because their son had demonstrated adequate progress. The official also retracted the demand that the family submit a remediation plan.

Our experience at HSLDA has been that when homeschool programs are placed on probation, it is done in violation of the homeschool statutes about 90% of the time.

Colonial Beach principal exceeds law

An HSLDA member family in Colonial Beach decided to homeschool one of their children during the 2005–2006 school year. They withdrew their child from the public high school, notified the principal, and filed their notice of intent with the superintendent under the baccalaureate degree option.

However, the family was surprised to receive a call from the high school guidance counselor demanding that they send additional paperwork to the high school, prove that they were going to teach the Standards of Learning, and bring their child to the high school for testing.

The family immediately called HSLDA for help. When we called the guidance counselor, he transferred the call to the high school principal. HSLDA explained that Virginia law does not give him any authority to ask for additional information, homeschool families do not need to come into the public school for any tests, and homeschool families under the BA degree option do not need to refer to the SOLs in their curriculum description.

The principal realized that he had mistakenly applied the law, apologized, and agreed to not ask the family for any more information.

* Name changed to protect family’s privacy.