Legal / Legislative Updates

OHIO

08 schools saga continues

In the September/October 2006 Court Report, we reported on the Ohio Department of Education’s new form for non-chartered, non-tax-supported schools seeking to educate because of truly held religious beliefs (a.k.a. “08 schools”).

Since then, there have been several developments regarding the form. First, the department of education (DOE) has agreed that it was not authorized to require 08 schools to file such an intrusive form. Second, Home School Legal Defense Association Attorney Michael Donnelly was able to negotiate an agreement with the DOE for homeschoolers to continue using HSLDA’s “Report to Parents” form with minor modifications.*

Third, while this agreement resolved the issue for many of our members, the DOE continues to insist that 08 schools (many of which are single-family private schools) provide information that the DOE is not authorized to require. The department inconsistently insists that it is authorized under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to require such information. HSLDA, however, takes the position that 08 schools need only file the “Report to Parents.”

Furthermore, HSLDA asserts that the DOE has no legal authority to approve or reject 08 schools and must file the reports these schools submit. DOE officials have resorted to various tactics to force 08 schools to comply with their requirements, including returning forms multiple times with additional requests for information, threatening schools with “non-registration,” and verbal intimidation.

In practice, the DOE has taken the position that 08 schools must register with the department and provide all desired information or risk being excluded from the DOE’s “08 schools list”-a list the department is not required or even authorized to promulgate. Regardless of the legality of the list, not being named on it actually subjects 08 school attendees to possible truancy investigation and deprivation of benefits for which they would otherwise qualify.

HSLDA is engaged in ongoing discussions with the department to resolve this matter in a way that respects Ohio law and the constitutional and legal rights of our member families-as well as the rights of all other families in the Buckeye State who homeschool under the 08 schools option.