Legal / Legislative Updates

TEXAS

Ridiculous Withdrawal Requirements

After homeschooling their son for one year, the Cox family (name changed to protect family’s privacy) enrolled him in public high school in the Bandera Independent School District. Soon after, however, they decided to move to a different school district and begin homeschooling again. Mrs. Cox faxed a letter of withdrawal to her son's high school, indicating that they would be moving out of the district.*

Despite the letter, the school district began badgering the family with phone calls. Mrs. Cox faxed the withdrawal letter again. The calls still did not stop. She faxed the letter a third time, and then emailed it twice to two different counselors at the high school. The calls still did not stop.

Desperate, the Coxes called Home School Legal Defense Association for help, and senior counsel Christopher Klicka contacted the attendance officer and the school. Both acknowledged that they had received the letter of withdrawal.

Nevertheless, the Coxes received an automated phone message every day that their son was absent from school without excuse. The Bandera School District also instructed them to arrive in person to withdraw their son, to tell the school district where he was going to school, and to indicate whether he was being homeschooled.

Finally, Klicka sent the high school a letter citing Texas law, which nowhere states that Bandera’s requirements are necessary. He demanded that contact with the family cease immediately.

The letter caught the school district's attention, and the Coxes have not been troubled since.

— by Christopher J. Klicka