North Carolina
Home School Inspection by
Mail Program
Each year, the North Carolina Department of Administration, Division of Non-Public Education (DNPE) sends home schooling families a form asking them to participate in a Home School Inspection by Mail Program. Families receiving this form are given the option of completing the form or meeting with a DNPE staff member to provide the information sought in the form.
Home schools in North Carolina are required by the provisions of Section 115C-549 and Section 115C-557 of the General Statutes of North Carolina to make available for inspection at the principal office of the school all test records for a period of one year after the testing. These are the only records which must be made available for inspection, although other statutes require home schools to make and maintain annual attendance and disease immunization records for each child. There is no requirement that parents participate in any inspection by mail program of the test records, although parents may choose to do so if they so desire. Parents who elect not to participate in this program remain subject to the statutory requirement to make the test records available for inspection at their home at all reasonable times, except that the inspection may be conducted only once a year. This inspection requirement does not obligate families to permit state inspectors to enter their home.
The inspection form being used in the Home School Inspection By Mail Program seeks information beyond what is required by state law. For example, the form seeks information which was already submitted to DNPE when the home school originally began operation. Specifically, the form again seeks the name and address of the school and the name of its chief administrator. The form also seeks the telephone number of the school, information about whether it is a two-household school, student enrollment by sex and age, number of teachers and administrators in the school, confirmation that the school is operating on a regular schedule for nine months, immunization information, confirmation that attendance records are being maintained, and verification that a standardized achievement test has been administered with the results currently on file.
Even though DNPE advises parents that participation in the Home School Inspection By Mail Program is voluntary, parents who do not complete the form receive another letter from DNPE asking them to complete and submit the form by a specified deadline. The follow-up letter makes it clear that DNPE expects to get some type of response from the home schooling family, even though state law does not require it.
Home School Legal Defense Association does not discourage home schooling families in North Carolina from utilizing the state forms as requested by DNPE. However, parents operating home schools should understand the limitations of authority granted to DNPE by the North Carolina General Assembly when the law was enacted.
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The Old North State
by
William Gaston
“. . . Carolina! Carolina! heaven’s blessings attend her, While we live, we will cherish, protect and defend her . . .”
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