Kansas education officials have retracted unlawful requirements involving how to launch a homeschool program, thanks in part to HSLDA’s advocacy.
Families establish a homeschool in Kansas by registering as a non-accredited private school. The law doesn’t specify how to submit the registration information, but many families use the state Department of Education’s online form.
Kansas homeschool families contacted us in July about a letter they received from the Department of Education “inviting” them to “re-register your homeschool” by August 12. “If you fail to re-register your homeschool, your school will be removed from the list of registered homeschools,” the letter added.
Though this demand was unlawful, families who failed to re-register could have been considered out of compliance with compulsory school attendance requirements. HSLDA intervened at their request.
Taking Action
Erin Hodgson, who homeschools her two children in Kansas, spoke with HSLDA Legal Director Scott Woodruff, who assured her that state officials lacked the authority to make homeschool families register again. He then emailed a similar message to some 3,000 HSLDA constituents in Kansas.
As HSLDA Staff Attorney Amy Buchmeyer explained, the private school registration process for homeschooling families is established by statute. The registration happens once and no follow-up is required. There is also no procedure for culling schools from the list.
Buchmeyer said that as she dug deeper, she learned that state education officials tried to change the reporting policy to obtain more information about homeschooling in Kansas. “They were being asked by the legislature how many students are being homeschooled,” she said.
Erin said she heard similar reasoning from a spokesperson at the state Department of Education, who explained that they were attempting to clean up homeschool records that dated to the 1970s.
Regardless of their intentions, said Buchmeyer, the state Department of Education had no legal justification for its actions.
“Officials lack the right to threaten homeschool families who have followed the law,” she said. “Re-registering may seem like a small thing in the moment, but if a family chooses not to or simply misses the email, it can cause major issues for homeschool students down the road with colleges, employers, and even social services investigations.”
Before the end of July, the department announced it had rescinded its demand that homeschool families re-register.
Still Work to Do
HSLDA also won a victory in a related issue. In early August, the state Department of Education deleted from its online form certain mandatory fields that the law doesn’t require homeschool families to provide.
“The statute is pretty specific,” said Buchmeyer. “All they can ask for is the name of the school and its mailing address.”
However, along with the request for families to re-register, the department changed the online form to require the number of students enrolled in the school and the grades served. It also required parents to submit an email address and phone number to register.
In response, HSLDA joined with homeschool state leaders to formally write to the department and point out that these fields were not required by law. The department initially responded by rescinding the requirement for student and grade information. A short while later, officials also removed fields requiring a phone number and email address.
“We are pleased with this amicable resolution,” Buchmeyer said. “But we plan to keep monitoring the situation so that we will be prepared to defend our members and ensure that officials operate according to the rules.”