Two homeschool families sued a Pennsylvania school district on Tuesday, September 16, after the district ignored a cease and desist letter, sent a school official and social worker to the families’ homes to demand a copy of their supervisor’s high school diploma, and threatened to initiate truancy proceedings if they did not provide these documents.
Last Thursday, the Eastern Lancaster County School District (ELANCO) sent a school social worker and another employee to the residences of several homeschooling families to demand copies of the parents’ high school diplomas—a mandate not authorized by law.
“This is unprecedented,” said Peter Kamakawiwoole, litigation counsel for HSLDA.
What the law says
Pennsylvania’s comprehensive homeschool statute contains a detailed description of the information families must provide when they begin homeschooling. While the law does require parents to have a high school diploma (or its equivalent) to homeschool, it does not require parents to surrender a copy of their diploma to school officials as a matter of course. Instead, parents submit an affidavit (or unsworn declaration) which attests, under penalty of perjury, that they meet this minimum educational requirement.
Pennsylvania law is clear about what homeschooling parents must provide to the district. And when they file a notarized affidavit or unsworn declaration, they are saying under penalty of perjury that they are in compliance with Pennsylvania law.
ELANCO’s attorney was also advised on September 10 that school officials had no lawful authority to conduct home visits of families who rightfully refused to comply with their extralegal demands. Instead, Pennsylvania law lays out a specific process for dealing with disputes over homeschool documents. The initial step is for the district to send a certified letter. And if that does not resolve the dispute, the family has a right to present their case before a neutral hearing officer. Nowhere in the process are government workers empowered to disturb families in their homes.
“These families followed the statute exactly as written. The school district must do the same,” said Jim Mason, president of HSLDA. “Pennsylvania’s homeschool law is clear and has not changed. But instead of following the law, ELANCO officials invented their own process and threatened them with prosecution. That is unlawful and must be stopped.”
Courts have already rejected such overreach. In Jeffrey v. O’Donnell (1988), the federal district court struck down Pennsylvania’s prior “private tutor” homeschool law as void for vagueness because it allowed superintendents to impose ad hoc requirements that varied from district to district. The General Assembly responded by adopting Section 1327.1, which expressly recognizes the right of parents to homeschool and provides detailed statewide procedures to prevent arbitrary or discriminatory demands. ELANCO’s extra-statutory diploma requirement revives the very kind of arbitrary local rulemaking Jeffrey condemned and the legislature eliminated.
Civil rights
The actions of ELANCO employees are incompatible with basic civil liberties. One homeschooling family shared a letter that had been presented to them by district officials during a home visit. It declared, “we cannot approve your request to establish a home education program,” and made the additional threat of filing a truancy petition against the parents.
The law is very clear that school districts have no authority to approve or deny a homeschool program. Neither does a family have to make a request to exercise their right to homeschool.
We will keep you updated as the case develops.