Much has changed for America’s students over the past few weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the education of nearly all school-age children has been moved to the home, the instructional model that many public schools have switched to is causing some families to consider withdrawing their children and privately homeschooling them. Unfortunately, officials in a growing number of states have told families that they cannot withdraw their children from public school.

This stance by officials not only defies the law but also places considerable stress on families. Quite understandably, some parents have told us they want to take advantage of the flexibility and freedom of homeschooling while they are all home together during this time of crisis. Other parents have said that the online-only coursework being mandated in some school districts is not a good fit for their kids.

Nevertheless, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have taken steps to limit when students can be withdrawn from their respective public schools. These restrictions appear to be focused on limiting students from withdrawing from a traditional brick-and-mortar school and transferring to an online public charter school.

Our mission here at HSLDA is to help anyone who wants to make this commitment, regardless of when that decision is made.

For instance, education officials in Oregon stated that “virtual public charter schools may not enroll new students or withdraw existing students during the period of school closure” (emphasis mine). However, a number of parents have also been told that “the Oregon Department of Education has advised that no students are able to withdraw [from] or enroll in any schools during the school closure.”

Hard-line Approach

In addition to these states, Home School Legal Defense Association has heard of situations in other school districts where officials have given a hard time to parents who announced their wishes to withdraw their children from public school.

We have already reported on families in Florida being told that “all students will stay with current Palm Beach County School until further notice.”

I contacted school officials in that district, making it clear that they lacked legal authority for making such a statement. After HSLDA and others objected to this practice, school officials resumed processing new homeschool registrations.

Meanwhile, parents in in a North Carolina district who said they wanted to start homeschooling were told that officials would not be processing paperwork to withdraw students. School officials in Riverside County, California, told parents that they couldn’t withdraw their child when the family informed the school that they would be educating their children at home privately.

Time and Money

So why are these states trying to make sure that these students “stay put” in their respective public schools? Why do education officials seem more concerned with maintaining the current enrollment than allowing parents to choose what may be best for a particular child?

Several reasons come to mind.

  • Some states seem to want to give their local schools more time as they scramble to put together a distance-learning program. Several parents have reported to us that their local school officials have pleaded with them to keep their children “enrolled” while they try to come up with a plan for finishing out the school year.
  • Officials are also adamant about holding on to these students because of the impact on finances. This concern is so great that many states have already temporarily modified their funding of public schools.
  • For instance, Oklahoma has stated that “any student movement between districts from March 12 until the end of the school year will not count for or against any district for funding purposes.” Even the US Department of Education has waived the assessment and accountability requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for states.

  • Finally, it is possible that because public school officials are working from home as schools are closed across the county they are simply unable to process withdrawals or homeschool intent paperwork.

None of these reasons justify any state or school district’s attempt to hoard these public school students. No parent who wants to take on more of the responsibility for guiding their child’s education should be prevented from doing so.

Our mission here at HSLDA is to help anyone who wants to make this commitment, regardless of when that decision is made.