O.K., I understand the Georgia home school law and requirements, now I am ready to “get the ball rolling”. HOW DO I GET STARTED?
NOTE: YOU SHOULD NOT REPORT CHILDREN UNDER SIX (6) YEARS OF AGE UNLESS THEY HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN ENROLLED IN A PUBIC SCHOOL FOR AT LEAST 20 DAYS.
1. If you are taking your child out of a school, public or private, it is important to contact the school and let them be aware that you are removing your child from the school to home school. After 10 days of unexplained absences, your child will be considered truant, if they are not informed of your plans.
2. Download a Declaration of Intent to Utilize a Home Study Program form from our home page. Download a monthly Attendance Form from our home page. [These are included in your new member package]
3. Fill out the “Declaration of Intent” form, including your name, address, the names of your children you intend to home school, their ages and the dates you intend to school. No other information should be required, nor offered, on the Letter of Intent. Do NOT check any “optional” areas. Make a copy for your files.
4. Contact your School Superintendent, (NOT the school board) by finding their number in your local phone book, or by checking out the Georgia Department of Education website at www.doe.k12.ga.us., where you will find a listing of School Superintendents. Call your School Superintendent’s office to find out if there is a home school “office” you need to address your Declaration form to; then send it, Certified, Return-Receipt Mail by September 1 st, or within 30 days of the establishment of your home school program. Make sure you clarify that this is also the address to send your Monthly Attendance Forms to.
5. On the first day of each month, send in your legible and completed Attendance Form to the correct address. In some counties, the Attendance Forms can be faxed in. Ask if that is an option. Keep a copy of each Attendance Form for your files.
Suggestions:
v When filling out the dates for your home school, be sure to give yourself a full 365 days, (i.e., Sept. 1 of the present year, until August 31 of the following year).
v If you are withdrawing your child from a public or private school, during the school year, find out how many days of school your child has attended when you withdraw him/her. On your Attendance Form, begin your record-keeping with that number of days, being sure to note that your child was a student at ________ school until ______________date. Begin your home school record-keeping with that number of days. Contact GHEA if you have unusual circumstances or questions concerning the Attendance Form.
v Keep a file folder for these documents.
We recommend you keep the following records for your use only (DO NOT send in):
v Daily lesson plans and yearly goals
v Records of educational activities (field trips, art, music, etc…)
v Permanent folder for each child, including school records, attendance, health records, samples of work done, extra-curricular classes attended, etc…
Compulsory Attendance Ages: "between 6th and 16th birthdays." Official Code of Georgia Annotated § 20-2-690.1. However, if a child is under 6 and has attended more than 20 days in a public school, he is then subject to the compulsory attendance laws. § 20-2-150(C).
Required Days of Instruction: 180 days. Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(5).
Required Subjects: A basic academic educational program that includes, but is not limited to, reading, language arts, math, social studies, and science. Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(4).
Home School Statutes: Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c).
1. Parents must submit a declaration of intent to home study to the local superintendent thirty days after the establishment of the home study program and by Sept. 1 every year thereafter. This declaration must include the names and ages of students, the location of the home school, and the time the parents designate as their school year. Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(2).
2. The home school must provide "a basic academic educational program." Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(4). (see "subjects" above).
3. Each school day must consist of four and one-half hours. Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(5).
4. Attendance records must be kept and submitted to the superintendent each month. The records will "not be used for any purpose except providing necessary attendance information." Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(6)
5. Parent must write an annual progress report and retain it for three years. Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(8).
6. "Parents or guardians may teach only their own children in the home study program. . .but the parents or guardians may employ a tutor who holds at least a baccalaureate college degree to teach such children." § 20-2-690(c)(3). No specific amount of hours required for tutor to teach.
7. According to the Attorney General of Georgia, the local superintendent does not the have the authority to require parents to affirmatively produce evidence of their continuing compliance with the law in the operation of home study programs or require the production of documents. Although the superintendent has the authority to "request" such materials, he cannot require parents to submit them. 1986 Op. Att'y. Gen. No. U86-19.
8. This statute resulted from a home school decision by the Georgia Supreme Court, Roemhild v. Georgia, 251 Ga. 569, 308 S.E.2d 154 (Ga. 1983), which found the former law to be "unconstitutionally vague." Roemhild, 308 S.E. 2d at 159. The court reasoned: ". . . we conclude that the statute is not sufficiently definite to provide a person of ordinary intelligence, who desires to avoid its penalties, fair notice of what constitutes a "private school. . . ." Roemhild at 158. "Furthermore, the statute violated a second due process value in that it impermissibly delegates to local law enforcement officials, judges, and juries the policy decision of what constitutes a private school." Id.
Teacher Qualifications: The "teaching parent" must have at least a high school diploma or a GED diploma. Or the parents may employ a private tutor who has a baccalaureate degree. Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(3).
Standardized Tests: Children must take a national standardized achievement test every three years beginning at the end of the third grade. "Test scores are not required to be submitted to public school authorities." Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(7). Parent must write an annual progress report and retain it for three years. Ga. Code Ann. § 20-2-690(c)(8).
THIS ANALYSIS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE GIVING OF LEGAL ADVICE.
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