Contact Countdown

Since late August 1986, HSLDA has helped 213 families resolve their contacts with school officials or state attorneys. All of these contacts, except 15, were resolved without going to court. The 15 that went to court were all dismissed in favor of the homeschool families by the efforts of HSLDA attorneys.

In most of these contacts, a school official would contact the families by letter, phone, or personal visit. The families would then contact HSLDA attorneys who would help the parents develop a strategy as to how to communicate with the school authorities. In many cases, the school officials would be satisfied after receiving a letter from the parents and eventually meeting with them if necessary. In situations where the superintendent tried to impose severe restrictions or refused to recognize the right to homeschool, the HSLDA staff would intervene by a letter and/or phone call. In several situations HSLDA would hire a local attorney to negotiate further with the school authorities or state attorneys.

Below is a state-by-state breakdown of the 353 contacts that have occurred in the last nine months. This school year, four states have surpassed the others with an exceptionally high amount of contacts: Michigan had 69, Ohio had 54, Pennsylvania had 42, and New York had 26. The 140 remaining contacts are still being negotiated by the HSLDA legal staff, parents and school authorities, or have become inactive for the past month. Out of the 140 unresolved contacts, 22 have ended up in court and are presently at various stages of litigation.

Five of the cases in court were initiated by HSLDA in federal court in order to protect groups of HSLDA families being threatened by unconstitutional actions of the state authorities.

Total statistics for August 1986–May 1987

Total number of contacts.....................................................................................353

Total number of contacts resolved.......................................................................213

Total number of resolved contacts won in court....................................................15

Total number of contacts unresolved...................................................................140

Total number of unresolved contacts presently in court........................................22

State-by-state breakdown of contacts for August 1986–March 1987 school year