The D.C. State Superintendent’s Office is proposing regulations for homeschoolers that are among the strictest in the country and, in the view of the homeschooling community, completely unconstitutional.
For years, parents in the District have been largely free to educate their children as they wished.
But that could drastically change with the new rules, which authorize public school officials to make home visits several times a year, mandate the subject areas families cover and require parents to submit evidence that their children have been immunized.
The issue became a pressing priority after a high-profile January case in which Banita Jacks was charged with killing her children who had been pulled out of the public school system.
Michael Donnelly, staff attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association, said he was shocked to see the rigid guidelines that will be vetted during a public hearing tonight.
Particularly egregious is the notion that parents have to let school representatives into their residence to demonstrate their teachings, he said.
“Unless you agree to let them in, you can’t privately instruct your own kids, and that’s wrong,” he said.
Donnelly said he’s never had to go to court over homeschooling regulations. But if the proposal makes it past the State Board of Education, he said he would file suit.
John Stokes, spokesman for the State Superintendent’s Office, emphasized the regulation won’t be finalized for another month while the public weighs in. He declined to comment on the specific concerns raised by homeschooling advocates.
What’s being proposed is patterned on Maryland’s homeschooling law, only with tougher rules, experts said.
For instance, the regulations would give education administrators the authority to order children back into the public system if they were unsatisfied with their parents’ competency or to start a remediation plan if they don’t agree with the students’ work portfolio.
Both steps are unusual in other jurisdictions.
A D.C. father who homeschools his 5-year-old daughter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he felt unfairly targeted.
“Nationally homeschoolers are performing better than kids in school,” he said. “This is just overstepping.”
