Across the States
Dealing with Deadlines
In 2008, Home School Legal Defense Association assisted its Vermont
members in a record number of hearings called by the state department of education. In early October, eight families faced hearings over a variety of issues. As of this writing, only two of those families still have an open hearing.
Some cases involved families seeking religious exemptions from the home study law, some involved disputes over paperwork and the application of the department’s “Labor Day deadline,” and others were more fact-specific, dealing with the commissioner’s doubt about whether a minimum course of study was being provided or his questioning the parents’ ability to provide competent instruction.
In one case, a hearing officer ruled against HSLDA’s argument that the department’s arbitrary deadline was unauthorized rule making and that it could not be used to deprive families of their exemption from providing the detailed narrative of the minimum course of study. HSLDA disagrees with this ruling but has decided not to appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court in order to avoid a more adverse ruling.
Our recommendation is that, to avoid issues over whether your home study program is exempt, it is best to meet the department’s deadline. However, this does not mean that all the elements of the enrollment notice must be filed by the deadline. If you are having trouble completing all the required elements (such as the progress assessment, detailed outline, and adaptations to a minimum course of study), HSLDA recommends that you file at least a notice of intent by the deadline, indicating that you will be enrolling a student in your home study program. After this, you will have 14 days from the receipt of a letter from the department to provide the missing information.* As long as some form of notice is filed by the deadline, and the enrollment notice is complete by the 14-day deadline, a home study program should not lose its exempt status.
— by Michael P. Donnelly
A New Commissioner
On November 20, 2008, the Vermont State Board of Education announced that Armando Vilaseca had been nominated to succeed Richard Cate as Vermont’s commissioner of education. In correspondence with HSLDA, Mr. Vilaseca stated that he supports a parent’s right to homeschool and that he has had numerous positive experiences with homeschoolers, both in his personal life and in his capacity as principal and superintendent in the Franklin West Supervisory Union. HSLDA wishes Mr. Vilaseca well. We hope that, under his leadership, homeschoolers can look for positive changes in the way the current law is enforced.
— by Michael P. Donnelly
* See “A plethora of forms”
