In response to your request for a survey of state laws regarding the requirements
for home schooling in the states in the Boston Region, we provide below a summary
of the applicable laws for each New England state. If you have any questions about
how these laws would apply to the facts of any specific claim for child's benefits,
please let us know.
Attendance at school is required for children between ages 6 and 16, unless the child
has completed 10th grade. Attendance in public school is excused for a child attending
a home study program. A “home study program” means an educational program offered
through home study which provides a minimum course of study and which is offered to
not more than: a) children residing in that home; and b) children not residing in
that home who either are two or fewer in number or who are from one family. By statute,
the minimum course of study for home schooling includes reading, writing, math, citizenship,
history, Vermont and United States government, physical education and health education,
English, American and other literature, the natural sciences, and the fine arts. Homeschool
students over age 12 are not required to study physical education, health education,
or fine arts.
A home study program must send a written enrollment notice to the commissioner for
each child in the program. The notice must include:
-
a)
the name and age of the child, by year and month;
-
b)
the names, mailing addresses, town of legal residence, and telephone numbers of the
parents or guardians of the child;
-
c)
for each child enrolled during the preceding year, an assessment of progress;
-
d)
for each child not previously enrolled in a Vermont public school or Vermont home
study program, independent professional evidence on whether the child has a disability;
-
e)
for each child being enrolled for the current year, a detailed outline or narrative
which describes the content to be provided in each subject area of the minimum course
of study, including any special services or adaptations to be made to accommodate
any disability (Note: As a result of a 2006 statutory amendment, this detailed outline or narrative is
not required from a home study program that has successfully completed three consecutive
school years of home study for an enrolled child. For the 2008-2009 school year forward,
only two consecutive years of successful home study will be required to qualify for
this exemption.);
-
f)
the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and signatures of the persons who will provide
instruction in any required subject area; and
-
g)
the signatures of all custodial parents or guardians who are legally authorized to
make educational decisions for the child.
Each home study program must also annually assess the student's progress by one of
the following methods:
-
a)
a report, in a form designated by the Commissioner, by a Vermont certified teacher;
-
b)
a report prepared by the parents or the student's instructor, or a teacher advisory
service report from a publisher of a commercial curriculum together with a portfolio
of the student's work that includes work samples to demonstrate progress in each subject
area in the minimum course of study; or
-
c)
the results of a standardized achievement test on a list approved by the Commissioner,
administered in a manner approved by the testing company.
See Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 16, §§ 11, 166b, 906, 1071, 1121; Vermont Department of Education
website at http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pgm_homestudy.html