Report to Homeschoolers
On Illegal Declaration-of-Intent Forms
Being Used in Washington State
By the Christian Homeschool Network
For the homeschoolers of Washington State
September 2, 2004
For an easy to print PDF version click here
This document is property of CHN and is not intended to be, and does not constitute, the giving of
legal advice. It may be reproduced if done so in its entirety.
© 2004 CHNOW All rights Reserved
In October of 2003 CHN became
aware of a project underway by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to make changes to the Washington State’s Laws
Regulating Home-based Instruction handbook, or more commonly known as the “pink
book.” This would have included making changes to the declaration-of-intent form (DOI).
OSPI wanted to change the existing DOI form to include a place for parents to check what qualifies them to homeschool.
CHN worked with HSLDA and the senate to stop this illegal form. In the meantime, many homeschoolers have complained to us
and other state organizations about questionable DOI forms from their school districts.
We were concerned that the
proposed form by OSPI, which they agreed to discontinue, was being used by local
school districts. We conducted this research to see if that was true; and to check on complaints from other homeschoolers.
We started by identifying 100 school districts that had 1) a large student population and 2) a large homeschool population.
We printed a list of school
district contacts for home-based students from the state superintendent’s web site. Next, we contacted these school
districts via e-mail or telephone to request information on homeschooling and to get a copy of their DOI form.
Below is the homeschooling law that applies, see
also RCW 28A.225.
RCW 28A.200.010
Home-based instruction -- Duties of parents --
Exemption from high school assessment requirements.
(1) Each
parent whose child is receiving home-based instruction under RCW 28A.225.010(4) shall have the duty to:
(a) File
annually a signed declaration of intent that he or she is planning to cause his or her child to receive home-based instruction.
The statement shall include the name and age of the child, shall specify whether a certificated person will be supervising
the instruction, and shall be written in a format prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction. Each parent shall
file the statement by September 15th of the school year or within two weeks of the beginning of any public school quarter,
trimester, or semester with the superintendent of the public school district within which the parent resides or the district
that accepts the transfer, and the student shall be deemed a transfer student of the nonresident district. Parents may apply
for transfer under RCW 28A.225.220;
This law states that the
DOI form shall be written in a format prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction. So we checked OSPI’s web site and found that their form was not in
compliance with state law. Their form asks for birth date instead of age, and asks for address-which is not required by law.
It is clear that their form is not in compliance with state law. In November of 2003 we requested OSPI to make corrections
to bring their form into compliance with state law, they denied our request. State law RCW 28A.200 gives OSPI authority to
prescribe the format of the form, but the law is clear what the content shall include.
Also, their form did not
list the home-based instruction law RCW 28A.200 which contains the information on the filing of the DOI form, but rather the
compulsory school attendance law RCW 28A.225 which gives parents the right to choose home-based instruction for the purpose
of meeting the compulsory attendance law. It is the duty of a state agency to provide information to citizens so they will
know what their rights and responsibilities are. By not referencing both laws they leave a citizen uninformed.
Any school district that
does not use OSPI’s prescribed format is not in compliance with the law and that form would be considered illegal. This also means they can not add to the form. The term “shall” is mandatory
legal language. Which means it is mandatory to use OSPI’s format. The Washington State School Directors Association
procedure number 3114 says; Distribute SPI-developed letter of intent and district-developed
supplementary application to interested parents upon request. Even their
own association tells school superintendents to use OSPI’s form.
We found NO school district forms in compliance with state law. As one homeschooler
put it “I have homeschooled in four different school districts, which have all used different forms, it was so confusing!”
Some misconceptions:
Some say that we must get
the DOI form from the local school district, and it must be on the school districts letterhead. This is information that comes
from OSPI’s pink book on page 6, “the format prescribed by the Superintendent
of Public Instruction must be requested from the local school district superintendent’s office….. The declaration
of intent, which is printed on a local school district’s form, stationary, or letterhead… The “pink book” is not law, policy or rules, and is therefore only a suggestion.
There are no state rules
to implement the home-based instruction laws under RCW 28A.200 or RCW 28A.225.010(4). Page 1 of the “pink book”
says, There are no rules and regulations implementing chapter 28A.225 RCW since the
authority to enforce this statue rest with local school district authorities under RCW 28A.305.301 (should be 28A.310.300)
and RCW 28A.195.040. Therefore, those portions of the new legislation which amended or added to chapter 28A.225 RCW and chapter
28A.200 RCW Home-based Instruction will not be put into rules or regulations. (note:
The only exception to this is WAC 180-52-070). According to the law and the state’s own handbook a local school district
has no authority over home-based instruction. Their only responsibility is to enforce the compulsory attendance law RCW 28A.310.300
and RCW 28A.225. Home-based instruction is an exemption to the compulsory attendance
law. Once a parent files a DOI form the school district no longer has any authority. It is clear that the filing of this form
is not a permission slip but a declaration to inform the local school district of a parent’s intent to conduct home-based
instruction. This is why school districts have no authority to approve or reject a DOI form.
In conclusion, there is clearly
a trend towards DOI forms becoming more intrusive. We found nineteen school districts
using similar forms to the one proposed by OSPI in 2003. As a state organization
we feel it is important to report our findings, and make recommendations to those in the homeschool community. In the past
twenty years many homeschool leaders, including us, have advised homeschoolers to not answer questions outside of those required by law RCW 28A.200. We have tried to work directly with the school district to
change incorrect DOI forms. It is clear that this has resulted in a variety of forms being used by school districts. One homeschooler
or homeschool leader may not be as informed or be as assertive as another, therefore resulting in forms that were not in compliance.
Wouldn’t it be best to follow the law and have one format to follow?
Recommendations:
If your local school district is using a form out of compliance
with the law, we suggest that you use OSPI’s form. We have included OSPI’s form in this report. Keep in mind,
their form has some compliance issues. We suggest that you make the following change, list age instead of birth date. If you
include your address and want this information to remain confidential, we suggest you add the following language to the bottom
of the form. The information on this form is private and confidential. This information
may not be used for directory information, nor be released to any third party.
A school district would be hard pressed to not accept
a form issued by the state. Make sure you mail/take this form to your local superintendent’s office.
Any form which follows the
prescribed format of OSPI would be within the scope of the law. Home School Legal Defense Association has created
such a form as a service to their members. Below is a copy of their e-alert advising their members on this issue.
=================================================
From the HSLDA E-alert Service...
=================================================
August 26, 2004
Washington--HSLDA Provides Declaration of Intent Form
Dear
HSLDA members and friends:
Many illegal Declaration of Intent forms are used throughout
Washington school districts. Over the past few years HSLDA has dealt
with various local
school districts who have demanded that homeschool
parents submit more information in the Declaration of Intent form than
is required under state law.
With the help of the Christian Homeschool Network of Washington (CHN)
and Washington
Association of Teaching Christian Homes (WATCH) we are
compiling a sample of the various Declaration of Intent forms that
have been sent to homeschool families across the state that do not
comply with the law.
Under the Revised
Code of Washington Sec. 28A.200.010 a statement must
be submitted each year by a homeschool parent that "shall include
the
name and age of the child, shall specify whether a certificated person
will be supervising the instruction, and
shall be written in a format
prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction."
While the Declaration of
Intent is only required under state law to
include the name, age of the student and indicate if the parent will
be
supervised by a certified teacher, many local school districts
attempt to require much more.
For instance, the
Bremerton School District
has sent out a new
Declaration of Intent form this year that they revised in April, 2004.
The Bremerton form requires parents to specifically indicate how they
are qualified to teach
their children at home.
Additionally, the Bremerton
form demands the grade level and birth
date of each child, whether the student has special needs, what their
"ethnic
classification" is, the last public school they attended and
which school district they were homeschooled in. None of
this is
required under state law.
While state law requires that the Declaration of Intent form is "in
the format
prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction"
even the sample form created by the Washington Department of Public
Instruction is not accurate.
To address these problems, HSLDA has developed a form which is "in the
format
prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction." This
form can be used by any member family if your school district's
Declaration of Intent form does not comply with state law. You can
find the form at ( http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1772
).
Recently the Tacoma Public Schools District demanded that homeschool
families submit their Declaration of Intent
forms to the individual
school that the student would have attended if they were enrolled in
public school. This is
beyond the school district's authority since
RCW Sec. 28A.200.010 requires the notice to be sent to the
Superintendent
of the local school district. Should any member family
receive a similar request from another school district please contact
us. The Declaration of Intent form is to be sent to the Superintendent
by September 15th of each year or within two
weeks of the beginning of
any public school quarter, trimester, or semester.
HSLDA will continue to work with WATCH
and CHN to ensure that all
school districts comply with state law.
Sincerely,
Thomas J. Schmidt
HSLDA Staff
Attorney
=====================================================
The HSLDA E-alert Service
is a service of:
Home School Legal Defense Association
P.O. Box 3000
Purcellville, Virginia 20134
Phone:
(540) 338-5600
Fax: (540) 338-2733
Email: info@hslda.org
Web: http://www.hslda.org
We have also included information
about Alternative Learning Programs that market to homeschoolers (ALP). It was not our original intent to include this information,
but many ALP sites were listed as contacts, or contacted us. We decided to include some of the information they provided.
Their involvement was confusing and some sites even gave false information. One site claimed that they were one of the three
options for homeschooling in our state (Seattle). State law RCW 28A.225 allows basically three types of education; public, private, or home-based. There are two options for homeschooling 1) independent homeschooling under the home-based instruction law
RCW 28A.200 or 2) homeschooling under a private-school extension program RCW 28A.195.010. There is no state law or rule that
authorizes public funded homeschooling or public funded home-based instruction.
This was also the observation
of the state auditor’s office; in their recent report dated August 27, 2004 they made the following observation. Many districts operating parent-partner programs do not understand the difference between
alternative learning experience (state funded education) and home-based instruction in which the students are not in the public
school system and receive no state funding. We found through discussions with district staff that some school districts refer
to state laws that govern home-based education when discussing their parent-partnered programs.
FINDINGS:
We received 91 DOI forms from local school districts. Note: There are a total of 296 school districts.
- 78
school districts- Did not use OSPI’s format
- 11
school districts- Listed wrong law(s)
- 65
school districts- Listed only one RCW
- 91
school districts- Asked for contact information
- 85
school districts- Asked for birth date
- 73
school districts- Asked for grade
- 19
school districts- Asked parents what qualifies you to homeschool
- 7
school districts- Asked for name or contact information of certified teacher
- 20
school districts- Asked what school child would attend
- 15
school districts- Asked last school child attended
- 47
school districts- Asked for form to be sent to other than the superintendent
- 14
school districts- Asked for other miscellaneous information
Some school
districts included other information along with the DOI form.
- 13
school districts- Listed contacts for home-based instruction were an ALP site instead of the local school district office
{Bainbridge, Bellevue, Everett, Evergreen (Clark), Highline,
Lake Washington, Marysville, Northshore, Puyallup, Riverview, Seattle,
South Kitsap, Tahoma}.
- 6
school districts- Refer homeschoolers to an ALP site, instead of on-site staff.
- 18
school districts- Included information about the ALP site with the DOI form. One form included a place to sign-up for the
ALP (Vashon Island).
- One
school district contact did not even have a DOI form, and “told us to contact the school district” (even though
she was listed as the contact for home-based students by the school district-Shelton).
Did not
use OSPI’s format: 78
Aberdeen, Anacortes, Arlington, Bellevue, Bellingham,
Bethel, Bremerton, Bridgeport, Camas, Central Kitsap, Central Valley, Cheney, Chewelah, Chimacum,
Clarkston, Clover Park, Concrete, Coupeville, Deer Park, East Valley, Enumclaw, Everett,
Federal Way, Ferndale, Franklin-Pierce, Highline, Issaquah, Kelso, Kent, Kiona-Benton,
Lake Stevens, Lake Washington, Lakewood, Longview, Lopez, Marysville, Mary Walker, Mead, Mercer Island, Monroe, Mukilteo, Nooksack, North Thurston, Northshore, Oak Harbor, Olympia, Onalaska, Orcas Island, Pasco, Peninsula,
Port Angeles, Puyallup, Raymond, Renton, Richland, Ridgefield, Riverview, Seattle, Sedro-Wooley, Selah, Sequim, Shoreline,
Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Spokane, Stanwood-Camano, Sultan, Tumwater, Vancouver, Vashon Island, Walla Walla, West Valley (Yakima),
West Valley (Spokane), White River, Yakima
Listed
the wrong RCW: 11
Aberdeen, Evergreen
(Stevens), Granite Falls, Highline, Kelso,
Longview, Mead, Mercer Island, Sultan, Tonasket, West Valley (Spokane)
Listed
only one RCW: 65
Anacortes, Arlington, Battle Ground, Bethel, Bridgeport,
Camas, Central Valley, Centralia, Cheney, Chewelah, Chimacum, Concrete, Coupeville,
Deer Park, East Valley, Eatonville, Enumclaw, Federal Way, Ferndale, Franklin-Pierce, Issaquah, Kent, Kiona-Benton City, Lakewood,
Lopez, Lynden, Marysville, Methow Valley, Monroe, Moses Lake, Mukileto, Nooksack, Northshore, North Thurston, Oak Harbor,
Olympia, Onalaska, Orcas Island, Orting, Pasco, Peninsula, Puyallup, Raymond, Redmond, Renton, Ridgefield, Riverview, Seattle,
Sedro-Woolley, Selah, Sequim, Shoreline, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, South Kitsap, Spokane, Stanwood, Tahoma, Toledo, Tumwater,
Walla Walla, Wenatchee, White River, Yakima, Yelm
Asked
for contact information: 91
All school districts
Asked
for birthdate: 85
Aberdeen, Anacortes, Arlington, Battle Ground,
Bellevue, Bellingham, Bethel, Bremerton, Bridgeport, Camas, Central Kitsap, Central Valley, Centralia, Cheney, Chewelah, Chimacum,
Clarkston, Concrete, Deer Park, East Valley, Eatonville, Enumclaw, Everett, Evergreen (Stevens), Federal Way, Ferndale, Franklin
Pierce, Granite Falls, Highline, Issaquah, Kelso, Kent, Kiona-Benton City, Lake Stevens, Lakewood, Longview, Lopez, Lynden,
Marysville, Mary Walker, Mead, Mercer Island, Methow Valley, Monroe, Mukilteo, Nooksack, Northshore, North Thurston, Oak Harbor,
Olympia, Onalaska, Orcas Island, Orting, Pasco, Peninsula, Port Angeles, Puyallup (optional), Raymond, Redmond, Renton, Richland,
Riverview, Seattle
Sedro-Woolley, Selah, Sequim, Shoreline, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, South Kitsap, Spokane, Stanwood, Sultan, Tahoma, Toledo, Tonasket, Tumwater,
Vashon Island, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, West Valley (Yakima), West Valley (Spokane), White River, Yakima, Yelm
Asked
for grade: 73
Aberdeen, Anacortes, Arlington, Bellingham, Bethel,
Bridgeport, Camas, Central Kitsap, Central Valley, Cheney, Chewelah, Chimacum,
Clarkston, Clover Park, Concrete, Deer Park, East Valley, Enumclaw, Everett, Federal Way, Ferndale, Franklin Pierce, Highline
(optional), Kelso, Kent, Kiona-Benton City, Lake Stevens, Lakewood, Longview, Lopez, Marysville, Mary Walker, Mead, Mercer
Island, Monroe, Mukilteo, Nooksack, Northshore, North Thurston, Oak Harbor, Olympia,
Onalaska, Orcas Island, Pasco, Peninsula, Port Angeles, Puyallup, Raymond, Redmond, Richland,
Riverview, Seattle, Sedro-Woolley, Selah, Sequim, Shoreline, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Spokane, Stanwood, Sultan, Tahoma,
Toledo, Tonasket, Tumwater, Vancouver, Vashon Island, Walla Walla, West Valley (Yakima), West Valley (Spokane), White River,
Yakima, Yelm
Asked
parents to check what qualified them to provide home-based instruction: 19
(*denotes school districts that listed qualifications but did not ask parents to check)
Arlington, Bremerton, Chimacum, *Federal Way,
Ferndale, Marysville, Mead, Mukilteo, North Thurston, Oak Harbor, Port Angeles, Richland, Selah (include transcript of college),
Vashon Island, *Walla Walla, West Valley (Yakima), *West Valley (Spokane) *White River, Yakima.
Asked
for name of certified teacher (and/or contact information): 7
Aberdeen, Franklin-Pierce,
Lopez, Richland (teacher certification number), Sedro-Wooley, Selah, Yakima
Asked
what school the child would attend: 20
Bellingham, Bethel, Central Kitsap, Clover Park,
Everett, Ferndale, Franklin-Pierce, Issaquah, Kelso, Lake Stevens, Mead, Mukilteo, Northshore, Puyallup, Riverview, Snohomish,
Spokane, Thurston, Tumwater, White River
Or asked
for last school attended: 15
Cheney, Federal
Way, Kennewick, Port Angeles, Puyallup, Renton, Richland, Selah, Shoreline,
Snoqualmie, Vancouver, West Valley
(Yakima) West Valley
(Spokane), Yakima, Yelm
Asked
if parent would be using part-time or ancillary services: 8
Anacortes, Bellingham,
Ferndale, Olympia, Orcas
Island, Tumwater (optional), Vashon Island, Walla
Walla (listed ALP)
Asked
for form to be sent to other than the local superintendent: 47
*requested
form to be sent to ALP site
Bethel, Bremerton, Central Kitsap, Centralia,
Chewelah, Chimacum, Clover Park, Coupeville, Enumclaw, *Everett, Evergreen, Federal Way, Ferndale, Franklin Pierce, *Highline,
Kelso, Kent, Lake Stevens, Marysville, Monroe, Moses Lake, Mukilteo, North Thurston, *Northshore, Oak Harbor, Olympia, Port
Angeles, *Puyallup, Richland, Ridgefield, Riverview, *Seattle, Sedro-Wooley, Shoreline, Shelton, *Spokane, *Tahoma, Tumwater, Vancouver, West Valley (Yakima), White River, Yakima, Yelm.
Did not specify where to send form: Bellevue, Central Valley, Cheney, Vashon Island
Miscellaneous
Information Requested: 14
