We have noticed a troubling trend in Maryland: numerous school districts are requiring that homeschooling families either give officials their child’s date of birth, use a specific form, or register online.
These requirements do not exist in Maryland law, so we have been pushing back vigorously.
Montgomery County
Several families new to homeschooling filed their one-time notice of consent form. As we always advise, they did not use Montgomery County’s form, but downloaded the official Maryland State Department of Education’s notice of consent form from the HSLDA website. After submitting their notices, these families received emails asking for their child’s date of birth.
This extra bit of data is not requested on the official Maryland Department of Education Notice of Consent form. One reason for this omission is to provide students additional identity protection. But this information is on Montgomery County’s form.
In response to the demands from Montgomery County, we contacted the school district. We reminded them that nowhere in Maryland law is there a requirement that families use Montgomery County’s form or provide the district with a date of birth. The month and year of each student’s birth is all that is legally required.
Faced with this information, Montgomery County backed down.
Charles County
Earlier this year, Charles County Public Schools sent a threatening letter to homeschooling families in the district. This letter demanded that homeschooling parents “register their students” through a Charles County Public Schools “online portal.”
In response, we released a short video for Maryland families explaining that, according to Maryland law, “a local school system may not impose additional requirements for home instruction programs” other than those in the law. You can watch that video here.
Additionally, we sent a letter to Charles County Public Schools to remind them about the law. Their staff called us, and while they stated it is not their intention to cause problems for homeschooling families, they also told us that they were not going to withdraw their extralegal demand.
We recommend that Charles County families continue to follow the law. There has been no change in Maryland law, and Charles County public school officials have no authority to change how families provide notice of their homeschool plans. And as of the date of this article, Charles County has not pursued action against any homeschooling families. We suspect that they know they would lose.
Conclusion
If you are homeschooling under a church umbrella, your umbrella will provide the local school district with the necessary annual verification. If you are homeschooling under the portfolio review option, make sure that you provide your annual verification to the county, either via email, phone, or the form letter that we have on our website, which is available here to HSLDA members.
If you are going to begin homeschooling for the first time, make sure that you use the Maryland Department of Education form available on our website here. This will protect you from a county-specific form that may demand information that is not required under the law.
We will continue to vigorously defend our member families across Maryland if any school district attempts to force homeschooling parents to “register” through an online portal, use a district-specific form, or provide a date of birth for their children.