Home School and Special Education Rights

Parents choose enroll their children in home school programs for a variety of reasons. Some feel their child needs the small structured environment of home, some do not want their child exposed to the standardized requirements of public school, some are needing to avoid social problems or situations or it could be that the child is involved in an activity or job that requires them to have an extremely flexible schedule.

If you believe your home-schooled child may have a learning disability, you have the right to seek an evaluation and services. The level of responsibility that the school district has for providing special education services to eligible home-schooled students depends on whether the IEP team determines that services should be provided.

If you want to have your child evaluated, you should contact the local public school district office, state that your child is in a home school program and request an evaluation. Once a home-schooled child is referred for a special education evaluation, the local public school is required to complete the evaluation within 60 days. You can use this sample letter if you need assistance in requesting a special education evaluation.

The district will follow the process outlined in the law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA. This includes:

1. Notifying the parent of the intent to evaluate and providing parents with their procedural safeguards.
2. Obtaining written consent for evaluation, placement in special education and development of the IEP.
3. Developing an appropriate IEP that measures the satisfactory educational process of the home-schooled child.
4. Re-evaluating the child for special education eligibility every three years.

The district has no legal obligation to provide services to your child if:

1. The parent of a child in a home school program refuses to give written permission for the evaluation, revokes consent or refuses to make the child available for evaluation.

2. A home-schooled child is identified as eligible for special education services BUT those services would only be provided if the student were to enroll in public school.

If the evaluation finds that your child is eligible, you may consider enrolling them part time in the public school so they can receive services. For example, you could enroll them for 2 hours on Monday and Wednesday’s so they can receive reading support from a specialist. Or, if your child is older, you could enroll them in an elective class or physical education class so they are on campus to receive support services.

If the services can be provided at the district office, you can ask to arrange a regular time every week so your child can attend the support program.

If you choose to implement an IEP and find later that the services are not in conjunction with the home school program you are providing, you can always choose to terminate your consent and the services will discontinue.

To learn more about the special education process and your rights under the law, visit my website http://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/home-school-programs.html.

Happy Parenting!