At the request of the School District Governance Association, GSHE worked with them to create an alternative policy on home education that they distributed to their members earlier today.
This summer, Granite State Home Educators discovered that over 50 school boards across the state have outdated policies that do not reflect the statutory changes made in 2012 that do not require annual notification nor submission of the student’s year-end assessment to their Participating Agencies.
Many new homeschooling families were issued incorrect acknowledgement letters from SAUs, stating their home ed program was for a single academic year and advising them to submit their year-end assessments to the district. GSHE worked with these families to request corrected acknowledgement letters that are consistent with current home ed requirements per RSA 193-A. This was a major topic at the September 2020 Home Education Advisory Council meeting. Because the problem was so wide-spread across districts, the NH Department of Education issued a technical advisory in late September reminding districts of their statutory requirements.
Likely as a result, the NH School Board Association presented a template Policy IHBG re home education to their member boards. It, also, contained several erroneous statements regarding compulsory attendance age, notification requirements, and failed to even mention Participating Agency responsibility to issue an acknowledgement letter.
We appreciate the opportunity to work with SDGA to provide a alternative policy for their members’ consideration that is consistent with New Hampshire home education, compulsory attendance, and truancy statutes, and Ed 315 rules governing home education.
By Michelle Levell