PA demands homeschoolers' standardized test results
Six different school districts in Pennsylvania are demanding that homeschool parents submit standardized test results of their children to their district superintendent — or face not meeting the so-called legal requirements for homeschool.
The Homeschool Legal Defense Association(HSLDA) announced that families from half a dozen school districts in the Keystone State have reported erroneous requests for their students’ scores — just in the last month alone. The Christian legal group says that the school districts have been keeping it busy clarifying for them what is now required by law.
Misinterpreting the law
HSLDA attorneys were surprised to see the complications and government overreach in Pennsylvania — especially after the state saw significant improvements to its homeschool law less than two years ago in the fall of 2014.
“All six of the school districts insist that parents must provide their district superintendent test results in order to be considered in compliance with the legal requirements for homeschooling,” the nonprofit legal organization reported.
HSLDA Attorney Dan Beasley assured authorities at all six school districts that they are wrong in demanding homeschoolers’ test results — because Pennsylvania state law requires no such submission.
“Under Pennsylvania’s revised homeschool statute, submitting test scores to the school district is not required,” Beasley explained to the respective districts in letters. “The passage of House Bill 1013 in October 2014 eliminated the requirement that home education program supervisors — usually parents — submit a portfolio of various records, including standardized test results in grades 3, 5 and 8, to the local public school superintendent at the end of the school year.”
The homeschool attorney insists that the districts are overcomplicating the existing rules, which he says are really quite simple.
“Instead, supervisors are required to submit only a certification from a qualified evaluator — who has reviewed the portfolio — that the child is receiving an appropriate education,” Beasley PA demands homeschoolers' standardized test results: