Legal / Legislative Updates

OHIO

Options for Homeschoolers

Freedom for homeschoolers has been gradually expanding in the Buckeye State until the last two years, but Home School Legal Defense Association is working with our members to preserve that freedom.

Long ago, early Ohio homeschoolers had one option—an often difficult option—for obtaining approval of their homeschool from local school superintendents as required by Ohio Revised Code (ORC) 3321.04.

In 1983, options for homeschoolers expanded with the passage of OAC 3301-35-08, which accommodated the creation of private schools (nicknamed “08 schools”) that do not seek a charter because of truly held religious beliefs but do comply with a number of other provisions. Homeschooling parents who were able to comply with the many provisions of OAC 3301-35-08 filed to create 08 schools to teach their children in their own home. Parents could finally comply with the compulsory attendance law without having to seek approval from their local superintendent.

Today, most homeschoolers in the Buckeye State receive an excuse from the compulsory attendance law under the 1989 Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) § 3301-34. This section provides for submission of a notification of intent to homeschool to the school district superintendent and outlines the procedures with which parents must comply in order to receive the excuse.*

Following the passage of OAC 3301-34, some parents continued filing as 08 private schools. This practice was not challenged by the Ohio Department of Education until 2006, when the department began rejecting notices filed under OAC 3301-35-08.

Many other states (including California, Florida, and Illinois) offer homeschooling parents multiple options for satisfying compulsory attendance laws, one such option being forming a private school in the home. HSLDA believes that parents should have as many options as possible for educating their children and complying with state compulsory attendance laws—and that parents should be able to choose the best approach. Therefore, HSLDA is appealing the Ohio Department of Education’s recent, and apparently arbitrary, reinterpretation of the 08 school regulation. HSLDA’s litigation counsel is working with hundreds of our members in this process.

— by Michael P. Donnelly