The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has recently been busy due to the revisions in Pennsylvania's homeschool law. As a matter of fact, HSLDA Attorney Dan Beasly has written several letters to squash the erroneous claims that the law requires parents to submit standardized achievement test results to their school districts.
Revised Homeschool Law In Pennsylvania Becomes Less Stressful For Parents
The inaccurate request of requiring the submission of standardized achievement test results to school districts will reportedly cause stress to homeschool parents, not to mention the unnecessary paper works. Fortunately, Pennsylvania's revised homeschool law does not require such policy, making it less stressful to homeschool parents, HSLDA notes.
"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," HSLDA wrote on its website.
Simplified Homeschool Rules
As an alternative to the submission of standardized achievement test results to school districts, supervisors are mandated to pass a certification from a qualified evaluator, who guarantees the child is receiving proper education. This simplified rule is also approved by Pennsylvania Department of Education, noting the test scores are no longer needed to be submitted to the superintendent.
Homeschool Audits Due To Lost Funding?
In other related news, the recent random homeschool audits at Clinton County was reportedly due to lost funding issue. According to One News Now, HSLDA attorney TJ Schmidt said the random audits of homeschool families were likely due to the possibility of financial loss of the district, which can amount to $300,000 to $400,000 as the number of homeschoolers increased in the area.
"There is some language that would give the local DPP some ability to check up on a private school," Schmidt said. "But in our opinion there's no authority for that DPP to get into the home or just simply demand access to records at any time."
Homeschool Parents Learn College Options
Meanwhile, homeschool parents recently learned about college options at the 33rd Annual Virginia Homeschool Convention held at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Jun. 10. As per Richmond Times-Dispatch, the convention featured workshops, exhibits and a college fair comprising almost 30 colleges and universities that can provide homeschool parents ideal college options that suit their children.
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