When several homeschool families on the Tennessee side of Bristol received emails from their public school districts demanding “proof of residency,” HSLDA went to work immediately.
As legally savvy homeschooling parents in the Volunteer State know, this request by officials has no basis in law.
Tennessee parents have multiple ways to educate their children at home. Each method invokes varying levels of red tape.
Families who function as a category III nonpublic school or a category IV church-related school have no need to interact with the local public school. Administrators of these entities handle all paperwork and filings on behalf of the parents.
Families who operate as independent homeschools must send in an annual notice of intent to the school district. However, they are not required to provide proof of residency, such as a mortgage statement or a bill.
Which brings us back to Bristol Tennessee City Schools. HSLDA promptly sent a letter on behalf of Bristol’s homeschool families. We reminded officials that the rule of law matters: a school district cannot add to the laws that homeschool families are required to follow. In Tennessee, demanding proof of residency from homeschool families does exactly that.
We are pleased to report that since we sent our letter, officials at Bristol Tennessee City Schools have left homeschoolers alone and have not made any further extra-legal requests.
HSLDA will remain vigilant, alongside our friends at THEA, to ensure that school districts do not go beyond what the law requires. As my colleague HSLDA Counsel Amy Buchmeyer recently wrote, even “minor” overreach by school districts demands a response. This is how we protect homeschool freedom for generations to come.