Legal / Legislative Updates

WYOMING

An Alternative to the Homeschool Statute

Wyoming homeschool law contains few requirements. Each year, parents must simply submit to their local board of trustees a curriculum showing that a “basic academic educational program” (which provides a sequentially progressive curriculum of instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, civics, history, literature, and science [see Wyoming Statutes 21-4-101]) is being provided.*

Some parents, however, choose to operate as a parochial, church, or religious school, which is free from all state regulation. If the homeschool is “operated under the auspices or control of a local church or religious congregation or denomination established to promote and promulgate the commonly held religious doctrines of the group,” it is considered a parochial, church, or religious school. For some parents, this means enrolling in a home study program operated by a brick-and-mortar church school in Wyoming; other families join such schools online or through correspondence programs operated by their religious denomination.

Home School Legal Defense Association invites our members to contact our legal department to receive more information about whether their educational program qualifies as a parochial, church, or religious school.

The Price of Participation In Public School Sports

Several families recently contacted HSLDA after their children, who play sports for the local public school, brought home a grade verification form. Because the students are homeschooled, the parents hesitated to complete the form. We explained to them that the Wyoming law allowing homeschoolers to participate in public school activities requires them to comply with all rules and policies public school students must follow (see Wyoming Statutes 21-4-506). These requirements typically include maintaining certain academic standards for eligibility.

After speaking with HSLDA, the families completed the forms, which the schools readily accepted.

For more information about state laws concerning homeschoolers’ participation in public school sports, visit HSLDA’s Issues Library at www.hslda.org/equalaccess.

Legislative Update

The Wyoming legislature operates on a two-year cycle in which lawmakers focus on a variety of subjects the first year and on the state budget the second year. The 2007 session was the first of the current cycle, and last year, HSLDA worked with Wyoming lobbyists and citizens to defeat House Bill 129, which would have raised the state’s compulsory school attendance age from 16 to 18. HSLDA also worked to prevent anti-homeschooling amendments from being included in other legislation. Though 2008 is only a “budget year,” we will continue monitoring the legislature to protect our freedom.

— by Michael P. Donnelly