project exposing school board members and school leaders focused on indoctrinating children rather than educating them.CURRENT GRADE: F
There is no school choice in the state where tax dollars follow the student.
Homeschooling requirements require approval and oversight of the government entity.
Compulsory attendance is required for ages 6-16.
Education Options
- Inter-District School Choice
- Permits families to enroll their children in schools in communities other than the city or town in which they reside. Tuition is paid by the sending district to the receiving district. Districts may elect not to enroll school choice students if no space is available.
- Charter Schools
- Authorized by the Commonwealth’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
- 73 charter schools in the state.
Homeschooling Laws
Here are state requirements on the topic of homeschooling:
- Requires advanced approval from the local school district.
- Each school district has different requirements.
- Local district “provides oversight of home schooling, with a focus on whether “instruction in all the studies required by law equals in thoroughness and efficiency, and in the progress made therein, that in the public schools in the same town.”
- It is up to the local district if home schooled students can participate in extra-curricular activities.
Religious Exemptions:
- There are no state specific religious exemption laws.
The First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Many argue that a religious conviction to provide a home-based education is constitutionally protected and a state religious exemption law is not a requirement to be able to homeschool on religious grounds.
It should be noted that the U.S. Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) established that “Under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, a state law requiring that children attend school past eighth grade violates the parents’ constitutional right to direct the religious upbringing of their children.” (The case involved a challenge of a 16-year-old student to be exempt, so the scope was limited)
