HSing through LEA

Homeschooling through the LEA
Also called 'independent homeschooling'

It's called homeschooling when you are registered with the Local Education Agency (LEA) which is commonly called your local school district.

While the law requires registration before August 1 of every year, you can register late. If you register after August 1 but before September 1 you may be asked to pay a late fee of $20 per week, per child, up to a maximum of $80 per family.

However, the local superintendent may waive this fee, S/He may also waive the August and September deadlines altogether--at their discretion. S/He is not required to allow you to homeschool after the September 1 deadline. The law allows for them to waive the fine and deadline for "good and sufficient" reasons and leaves good and sufficient open to interpretation by these superintendents. So don't be afraid to make your case.

The Tennessee Department of Education recently uploaded a list of the homeschool coordinators for each district (MS Excel format) for convenience. I do caution folks to remember that they may have received minimum training and you should read through these pages and double check what they tell you with the actual law. You might also want to check with the local homeschooling community also.

Click to download a copy of this from the State DOE web site.

When you register with the local education agency they will ask you to fill out an Intent to Homeschool Form. It used to be a two page pink and green form. It was last revised in June of 2007. You can download these forms from the DOE or call your local LEA and have them mail you the homeschooling packet. It's my understanding this form was originally created in a meeting with the state and homeschooling leaders of the time in an attempt to accommodate all parties. The form requests some information not required by law such as informing the LEA when you stop homeschooling or move, Social Security Numbers, asking for your phone number and documentation of qualifying education.

The law says you must:

...submit the name, number, age and grade level of children involved, the location of the school, the curriculum to be offered and the proposed hours of instruction and the qualifications of the parent-teacher relative to subdivision (b)(4) or (b)(7) .

You'll find a downloadable attendance form at the State of Tennessee's homeschool page in case you've misplaced the one the school district usually sends once you've registered with them.

The following is a list of some of the things people have reported to me that their LEA is requiring that are above and beyond the law. Some LEA's, Davidson County, among them have even developed their own form. You can decline to cooperate with the LEA based on your specific reading and understanding of the law. These include:

pick up/return these forms in person.
a copy of your diploma
a phone number
social security numbers--which at least is listed as optional on the state form.
detailed information about what you are using as curriculum
report changes of address
report when child is transferred to another school/school district

Again, the above y points are over and above the legal requirements.

Click to download copy
of 2008-09 attendance sheet from DOE website.

TCA 49-6-3050 requires 180 " instructional days" at four hours per day. There is no definition for what constitutes "instruction". So far the state hasn't cared much how you mark the days on this form--X's, check marks, filled with color, P's and A's (for present or absent) all seem to be fine with them.

NOTE: The Intent to Homeschool form under 3A states: "Please use the provided calendar to record hours spent in educational instruction." Keep in mind that the law requires at least 4 hours of instruction per day. Instruction hours are not 'rollover' hours. If you do 6 one day and only 2 the next you've not met the legal requirement of 4 per day.

The state doesn't provide curriculum and can't dictate curriculum. The registration form does ask what subjects will be taught and what course of study (either college prep or general education). Specifics are not necessary. General answers such as math, language, music have been fine. The law { 49-6-3050 (b)(8)(A) and (B)} does require that high schoolers be on either a:

college track that must "include those areas of study required for admission into public four-year colleges operated by the state.";
or a general track which "must include those courses or areas of study required by the state board of education for graduation from public high school."

The homeschooling law doesn't give the state the authority to inspect your "classroom". It does say that the attendance form must be available for inspection by the Superintendent.

The state law requires testing in the 5th, 7th & 9th grades. In the spring you'll get a notice of when to appear so that your child can take the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program tests (currently the Terra Nova test). That TCAP page at the Department of Education's website contains several links including the FAQ, accommodations, samples, test strategies and more. There are no 9th grade TCAP tests. The public schools start giving end of course or gateway tests. However, those gateway tests do not comply with the testing that is enumerated in the homeschooling regulation.

HSLDA and others have disagreed with the state in their "requests" that homeschoolers take these tests. The major objection being these tests are not standardized test as required by Tennessee Code. Many also object to the state dictating curriculum via this testing requirement.
Remember you decide what grade your child is in and what courses they take in what grades.

If you are going to teach a high schooler you must have either a baccalaureate college degree or a waiver. The law does provide for the Commissioner of Education to waive this requirement. Previous commissioners have only granted two exemptions in nearly 15 years since the law was written. If you have an interest in those exemptions check the FAQ page.

The State of Tennessee's Homeschool page is here: http://www.state.tn.us/education/homeschool/ . There is likely to be some tension involved in that the Intent to Homeschool form does ask for information over and above the law and the DOE is placing additional emphasis on the LEA's to ensure these forms are filled in COMPLETELY. But since there are several items on the form that are not specifically mandated by law not all the forms are going to be fully completed. If you've chosen to only fill in the legally required information you may get a phone call checking on that and you should have read the law in order to explain to the clerk exactly why you didn't provide the requested information.