Across the States
Official Demands Complete High School Plan
A central Iowa public school guidance counselor told Mrs. Mardel (name changed to protect privacy) that she needed to submit a plan for all four years of high school for her homeschooled 8th-grade daughter.
Mrs. Mardel was in shock. She had never heard of such a requirement. But the guidance counselor seemed to know what she was talking about and said the requirement came from the state department of education.
A Home School Legal Defense Association member, Mrs. Mardel asked us for help. HSLDA Staff Attorney Scott Woodruff called the guidance counselor, who acknowledged that she had asked the family to submit a complete high school plan. Woodruff asked what law or regulation authorized her to require this information.
She referred to Senate File 2216, a 2007 bill requiring public-schooled—but not homeschooled—8th-grade students to submit an academic plan for grades 9–12 in support of their career objectives.
Woodruff asked the guidance counselor to double-check and see if this law really applied to homeschoolers. The counselor called back a few minutes later. She had checked with the department of education and was told that the four-year plan requirement did not apply to homeschoolers. Apologizing for any problems her misunderstanding may have caused, she promised to call the family and clarify.
— by Scott A. Woodruff
