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| Date: From: Subject: | 7/13/2011 4:28:27 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Wisconsin--HSLDA Responds to Questions about School Census Guidance |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== Wisconsin--HSLDA Responds to Questions about School Census Guidance Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: Following HSLDA's June 23 article containing guidance about Wisconsin school census issues, a writer raised several questions in an email. (All references below are to sections of Wisconsin Statutes Annotated.) 1. Was HSLDA's Guidance "Incorrect"? Our article included this statement: "To protect confidential information about your family, you simply need to be aware of the fact that no state or federal law requires you to respond to the school census request at all. Alternatively, you can fulfill the objective of the law by telling only the number of children in your home and their ages." The writer said: "this statement is incorrect." However, the writer offered no explanation as to why the statement was incorrect. Based on our analysis of the statutes, and without having the benefit of the writer's thought process that brought him to believe the statement was incorrect, we continue to believe our guidance is correct. 2. Can You be Charged with Disobeying the Law if you Don't Give Information to the Census Worker? The writer said the statement quoted above "misinforms people about the law which can lead to homeschools being charged with disobeying the law." The writer is confused about who is under what mandate. Section 120.18 and its subdivisions place mandates ONLY on school systems and their staffs. These statutes place no mandates whatsoever on parents. They don't ask you to "obey" anything. There simply is no "disobedience" with which you could be charged! 3. Does HSLDA "Suggest" that Families Tell Census Workers the Ages of Their Children? The writer said that HSLDA "suggests" that families provide this information. However, as the quoted statement above shows, we have not "suggested" this. We have simply informed families that providing the ages of the children (and the number of children) would fulfill the objective of the law. 4. Do Census Workers Need to Know if You Homeschool? The writer said, "The Wisconsin school census statute requires ... school districts to report ... the number of public and private school students, including homeschoolers, in their district." Before responding to this, some background is necessary. Wisconsin law requires schools annually to file a report containing a "school count." (See 120.18(1) and 120.18(1)(a)). The "school count" can be achieved either by conducting a school census on June 30 (under 120.18(1)(a)1, or by using public, private and homeschool statements of enrollment already on file and adding an estimated number of children not counted under those statements (under 120.18(1)(a)2). However, no statute requires the mandatory "school count" or the optional "school census" to identify which students, or how many students, are homeschooled. A census worker seeking to find out whether you homeschool your children cannot legitimately claim that the law mandates the school to collect that information in the census. If a school system elects to conduct its "school count" by using statements of enrollment already on file, it will obviously know how many students were in a homeschool, public school or private school the previous year. 5. Should You Give a Census Worker a Copy of Your Statement of Enrollment? The writer suggests that you give a census worker a copy of your most recent statement of enrollment. HSLDA does not recommend this. Your enrollment statement is already on file and open to the public. Anyone can get a copy for 15 cents! See 115.30(5). Why give it to a government worker again? How many times must we give the government information before they simply leave us in peace? 6. Does Giving a Census Worker a Copy of Your Statement of Enrollment Meet "the Requirements of the Law"? The writer said that giving a census worker a copy of your statement of enrollment "meets the requirements of the law." As I have already explained, no law requires you to give any information to the census worker in the first place. In any event, the census worker already has access to your statement of enrollment and he can view it without troubling you or your family. 7. If Families Refuse to Give Information to Census Workers, Will it "Undermine" the Homeschool Law? The writer is concerned that if families refuse to give information to census workers, it could result in the introduction of legislation to make it mandatory, or "undermine" the state's homeschool law. HSLDA is in the unique position of having a national perspective on this issue. We have helped families all across the country who have sought guidance on census issues. The guidance HSLDA has supplied to our Wisconsin members is very similar to the guidance we have provided across the nation over the years in similar situations. We have not seen any state respond by enacting legislation making census answers mandatory, or "undermining" a state's homeschool laws. 8. If Families Refuse to Give Information to Census Workers, are they Preventing the School System from Fulfilling the Statutory Requirements? The writer wonders whether refusing to provide census information could lead school systems to claim "they cannot fulfill the statutory requirements." This does not seem likely. Schools have two ways to conduct the required school count: the optional census OR using enrollment statements they already have on file (plus an estimate of children missed in those statements). If a notable number of families refuse to give information to census workers, the school system's most logical response would be to stop conducting an annual census, and instead rely on statements of enrollment already on file, as they are entitled. This would have the added benefit of saving taxpayers the cost of hiring school census workers every year. And it would mean one less government visitor at your door each year to interrupt you and your family. HSLDA respects the right of every family to respond to a request for census information in a way that comports with their conscience. Our hope is simply to help you become accurately informed about the law. Thank you for standing with us for freedom! Sincerely, Scott Woodruff HSLDA Senior Counsel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> You can only do so much... No one can be everywhere at once. And you can't be at home, teaching your children, while monitoring your state's legislature. Through electronic legislative services, HSLDA is monitoring state legislation for you -- watching and listening carefully for any proposed laws that could erode your right to homeschool. Join HSLDA today-we'll watch out for your future. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1942 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
