CRS Hsing

CRS Homeschooling

**NOTICE** You should know that currently the homeschooling community in Tennessee is dealing with the fact that the TN Department of Education is telling the Department of Human Services and the POST (Peace Officers Standards and Training) Commission that Category IV diplomas are insufficient for qualifying to obtain jobs as police officers or daycare workers. This despite their acceptance by a myriad of colleges, university and training schools. Many of our umbrella (church-related) schools are Category IV schools and issue these diplomas. The Tennessee homeschooling community will continue to vigorously defend these diplomas. Check HB1652 for details. The current workaround is that high school graduates wanting to obtain jobs in these fields should obtain a General Equivalency Degree.

Church-related schools (CRS) are known as umbrella schools or cover schools in other parts of the nation. In Tennessee if you don't want to register with the Local Education Agency (LEA) you'll need to register with a CRS to legally homeschool.

There are two ways to be registered with a CRS.

The first way is HOMESCHOOLING using the CRS as a cover school. You'll need to follow their rules regarding how many hours per day to teach, testing and curriculum, meeting with school personnel and perhaps agreement with a code of conduct or statement of faith. Many also provide extra-curricular activities, support groups and other services such as online access. There will be registration and other fees. The CRS will report their high school students to the LEA.

There is no law that says you must use a cover school near you, in your county, or on the State Department of Education's list. The DOE doesn't have to 'approve' or legally 'recognize' these schools. They become legal once they meet the qualifications of the accrediting agencies enumerated in the CRS law. The DOE keeps a list of CRS's as a convenience for their staff and parents. The accrediting agency provides the DOE with their list of schools. One accrediting agency, TACRS, has decided not to participate in this list stating that their schools operate under the Jeter Memorandum and thus their students aren't considered homeschoolers but privately schooled and so should be included in a 'homeschooling' list. Unfortunately, TACRS doesn't provide a list of their schools on their own website either. Many of them are listed on the TnHomeEd CRS chart.

The DOE can and has directly approved two schools in recent years.

Click to download a copy from the DOE website.

You may be asked to fill in the form at left if you are homeschooling a high schooler. You may not. Some CRS's may not realize that the CRS form has been eliminated by the DOE.
The DOE does state on their webpage: "Parents serving as teachers in a church-related school must follow the requirements for all church-related schools including the duty to report only the names, ages and addresses of all pupils in attendance to the LEA." My suggestion is that you leave this reporting up to the church-related school--your immediate authority in this matter.

This form has been recently revised (June 2007). Previously it had not been revised since the Jeter Memorandum and as a result parents, and school personnel, were often confused.

Please remember that some of this information isn't required. Some is marked optional and some isn't.

Optional includes Social Security and phone numbers. The law doesn't specifically require proof of the parent's education. That hasn't stopped the DOE and many LEA's from insisting that parents include a copy of their diploma. You'll have to decide for yourself if you want to comply or not.

Likely, your CRS won't require you to fill this form in at all.

The second is the SATELLITE or JETER OPTION which we call homeschooling but is technically a form of private schooling according to the Jeter Memorandum . It is important that you understand this distinction. Applying for college as a homeschooler or stating to any government agencies that you're being homeschooled would be incorrect. It's not unusal for them to check with the local school district to verify status and your child's records will not be found and could result in serious and frustrating consequences.

Using this satellite option you register with a church-related school, the school considers your home a "satellite" of their campus and you a teacher of their school.

As a result you won't need

to register your high schooler with the LEA (the CRS handles any reporting)

to submit to testing by the state (the CRS may require it's own testing),

a BA/BS to teach your high schooler. As in the first CRS option, above, you are required to follow their rules regarding curriculum, hours, grading, etc. Ask the CRS specifically if they offer this satellite (Jeter) option.

Registration and other fees vary by school.

Withdrawing from School

I don't know of any formal document for withdrawing or transferring your child to another school. Usually, when you enroll your child in a new school the new school requests your child's records from the old school. This serves as a notice. However, if you're at all anxious about whether this normal procedure will be done before the old school begins and they will be expecting your child, here is my suggestion to avoid truancy issues. (You should check with your church-related school for their advice on how to deal with notifying the previous school.)

After registering with your chosen church-related school write a formal letter like the one below to the school stating that you are transferring "Suzy Jones" to ABC School. Include the new school's contact information. I suggest hand carrying it to the office and noting on your copy of the letter the date, time and the name of the person that accepts the letter. While you're there make sure "Suzy" doesn't have any outstanding fines, has returned all her books, locks, equipment of any kind. You don't want there to be any delay in the transfer of records because "Suzy" didn't return a library book.

You may want to avoid any discussion of "homeschooling". I would not have the children within earshot of any remarks that these clerks might make regarding your decision to homeschool. Often these folks are just clerks and they are not very well versed on the actual code. You, however, have read the code and understand just what you can do and they can't. Thank them for their concern and do "the happy dance" when you get home.

Kay Brooks
Founder
TnHomeEd.com

Sample letter
informing the school that your child is being transferred to a new school.

[Date]

Principal's Name
School's name
School's street address
School's city, TN School's zip

Dear Principal [insert their name],

This letter is to formally notify you that our child[ren], [full name of the child/ren], has been transferred to [insert school name, address and phone number] effective immediately.

Sincerely,

[leave space for your signature here]

Your Name
Your Street Address
Your town, TN, Your ZIP
Your phone number