PA Mom Shocked by Letter From New School District

When Stephanie Mago-Eagle, a homeschooling mom, moved to a different Pennsylvania school district, she made sure to send in a letter of transfer, according to state law. But the new school district responded by requesting a list of demands that left Stephanie bewildered.

She contacted HSLDA for help.

Missing resources

Stephanie had switched to homeschooling to help her daughter during the COVID-19 pandemic. And she was thriving.

In her previous school district, Stephanie made a habit of filing her homeschool paperwork well before the August deadline every year, and she never encountered any difficulties. That’s why the list of demands from the district she had just moved to caught her off guard.

Officials in the new district insisted that, in addition to the homeschool affidavit Stephanie had filed the previous June, she had to provide a copy of her driver’s license, her daughter’s birth certificate, and records related to vaccinations.

District officials also asked Stephanie to schedule an in-person meeting with them.

“I was like, ‘I don’t need this,’” Stephanie said, recalling that at the time she was still unpacking from her recent move. As for the sensitive documents officials were requesting, she added, “It didn’t make sense to me. My daughter wasn’t physically in their school, so why did they need these things?”

Beyond the law

HSLDA Senior Counsel Will Estrada reached out to district officials on Stephanie’s behalf and confirmed that her assessment of the situation was correct.

Once Stephanie moved, her old district had followed the law and forwarded her homeschooling paperwork to officials in her new jurisdiction. But officials where she now resides apparently were unfamiliar with homeschool regulations and had requested from her the documents they actually need from students who plan to enroll in public school.

“We see this type of overreach by officials often enough in Pennsylvania,” Estrada said. The state’s homeschooling statute is one of the most restrictive in the nation, which means officials aren’t always familiar with its intricacies.

In Stephanie’s case, once Estrada contacted school officials and explained they had no legal basis for requesting the documents they wanted—or a meeting—the situation was quickly resolved.

“We’re grateful for the district’s courteous response, and for our being able to serve as a resource for officials and families to better understand homeschool law,” Estrada said. “Even so, this situation was an important reminder that homeschool parents need to remain vigilant and only provide officials what the law requires.”

In defense of freedom

Reflecting on a similar situation he helped resolve on behalf of a member family in Virginia, Scott Woodruff, HSLDA director of legal and legislative advocacy, concurred.

In that case, school officials had requested detailed information about the curriculum the family planned to use. Woodruff reminded officials that all homeschooling parents in Virginia have to do to comply with the law in this respect is provide a list of subjects they intend to teach.

Woodruff added that families facing overreach by officials have important decisions to make. When our legal team helps a family in need, they give parents the tools and background they need to make a well-informed decision about what is best for their children. We put our decades of experience to work to protect the freedom of the homeschool community.

“There are two ways to destroy freedom,” Woodruff said. “You can gulp it down or nibble around the edges. I’ve seen officials become more aggressive if they think someone is going to yield to requests for small things the law doesn’t mandate. And they’ll continue to ask for more until someone puts their foot down.”