HSLDA intervened on behalf of a Florida homeschool mom who was accused of failing to comply with Florida homeschool law after the local public school lost track of her records.

Since her daughter started homeschooling a decade ago, Florida mom Amber Close has kept all her homeschool records. She also keeps a spreadsheet documenting all the paperwork state law requires her to send to public school officials every year—and the status of each submission.

This precaution saved her from grave legal difficulties earlier this year.

Thanks to those meticulous records and HSLDA’s advocacy, Amber had an answer when her daughter Sophia’s public school  accused her of failing to comply with Florida’s homeschool law. Her diligence also rescued her daughter’s plans to begin taking dual-enrollment college courses in the fall.

Application Denied

The dilemma arose in April after Amber’s daughter applied to Eastern Florida State College. The 15-year-old hoped to enroll in the state’s dual-enrollment program, which permits students to take courses that count as both college and high school credits.

College admissions officials responded in May, claiming Sophia did not qualify for enrollment because she was out of compliance with homeschool law. Their message alleged that Amber had failed to submit a student evaluation at the end of the 2023 school year—a requirement in the state.

“I thought: ‘That’s weird,’” Amber said. “I’m a stickler for paperwork.”

Attributing the discrepancy to an administrative error, Amber emailed public school officials with a 19-page attachment documenting her consistent submission of homeschool records. As for the allegedly missing 2023 student evaluation, Amber included a copy of a registered mail receipt showing the Brevard County office had signed for the packet 10 months earlier. She also telephoned the office several times, but she was never connected with anyone who could address her difficulty.

Facing Legal Trouble

The next communication Amber received from Brevard County officials only escalated the problem. On May 10 a letter arrived warning the family they would be “terminated from home education” in less than a week, unless they resubmitted their daughter’s 2023 student evaluation.

This meant the family risked facing charges of truancy and educational neglect—even though they’d done nothing wrong.

“It was upsetting and insulting,” Amber said. “I was doing everything in good faith to show that I was complying with the law.”

Bigger Problem

At this point Amber decided to take advantage of her HSLDA membership and enlist the help of one of our attorneys.

In response, Senior Counsel Tj Schmidt contacted the Brevard County school superintendent’s office on behalf of the family. In several telephone conversations with officials, he recounted hearing from numerous homeschool families who reported similar problems with their paperwork.

“We were able to clearly demonstrate that documents had been submitted, received, and just plain lost,” Schmidt said. “I pointed out that under Florida law, officials are required to maintain these homeschool records, and that there seemed to be some issue with them complying with this obligation.”

Schmidt emphasized that officials needed to act quickly to resolve the Close family’s case so that their daughter could meet the deadline for enrolling in college.

In Perspective

By mid-May, Amber received another email from county officials saying her daughter was in compliance with homeschool law—in time for the teen to register for fall college classes.

Officials offered no explanation or apology, which left Amber feeling wary and distraught.

“I’ve lost a lot of trust in the office, that they’re going to be there for me,” she said. In the future she plans to include a cover letter listing the documents she’s including and quoting the relevant statute explaining how these records are to be handled with each submission of homeschool paperwork.

Since the initial call from Amber, Schmidt has helped two other families who also were threatened with termination when Brevard County lost their evaluations. One family had even received a confirmation email from the home education office when they submitted their evaluations more than  eight months prior.

Schmidt said HSLDA intends to monitor the situation in Brevard County to ensure homeschool families are treated fairly. He added that the miscues by officials there provide context for the debate in several other states, where lawmakers are asking whether to increase government oversight of the growing homeschool movement.

The problems of Brevard County illustrate that heavy regulations undercut the principles that make homeschooling a success. Home education works best when loving parents are granted maximum freedom to match learning opportunities to their children’s interests and abilities.

Conversely, mandating copious notices, assessments, and other restrictions not only hampers parents in their quest to remain nimble and responsive to their students’ needs, it also produces burdens that even officials can’t cope with.