Pauline's Guide
to Homeschooling in PA

Homeschooling in PA:  Who must file?
Compulsory School Age

What age child must report to the school district?

In PA, homeschooled children who are within a certain age range fall under the compulsory school attendance law.  While a homeschooled child is of compulsory school age, the parent must file annually with the local school district according to the PA Home Education Law (the most widely-used option), or use one of the Alternatives to the Home Ed. Law.  So when exactly do you have to file?  That depends.

Child under age 8 who do not live in the Philadelphia School District: 

If your child is not yet 8, and has not attended any school for 1^st grade or above, your child is under the compulsory school age and you do not need to report to the school district in any way. You don’t have to file an affidavit, keep a log, submit a portfolio, etc., and most parents choose not to. 

If your child has attended public school in first grade or above (kindergarten doesn’t count), your child is of compulsory school age until their 17th birthday, and you must file an affidavit when you begin home educating, even if the child is under 8. 

What if your child is under age 8 and has attended a private or out-of-state school in first grade or above?
This may be a gray area. Sarah Pearce of the PDE has told me that a student under age 17 who has attended first grade or above at any school, public or private, in-state or elsewhere, falls under the compulsory attendance law. However, I have been told that, in at least one situation, someone at the PDE has given a different interpretation - basically that this applies only to children under age 8 who have attended a public school. See also the PDE's FAQ page. If you need further clarification of this point, or if you have unusual circumstances in this area, I suggest you read the relevant law and code, and call the PDE Homeschooling Liaison.)

There is a special situation for special ed. students who are too old for preschool-age services but who are not yet of compulsory school age. Individual public schools may require homeschooled special ed students under age 8 to file home education paperwork in order to be eligible for services. This is a complex area beyond the scope of this site - please contact the PDE if you have questions or concerns.

Child under age 8 who does live in the Philadelphia School District: 

If you live in the PSD, and your child will not be 6 by September 1, and has not attended any school for 1^st grade or above, your child is under state and PSD compulsory school age and you do not need to report to the school district in any way. You don’t have to file an affidavit, keep a log, submit a portfolio, etc., and most parents choose not to. 

If you live in the PSD, and if your child has attended public school in first grade or above (kindergarten doesn’t count), your child is of state-wide compulsory school age and you must file an affidavit when you begin home educating, even if the child is under 8. 

In PSD and age 8 or above: If you live in the PSD and your child will be 8 by two weeks into the district's school year, then your child falls under the state compulsory school age and you must file a home education affidavit (or meet the attendance requirement in another way).

If you live in the PSD, and if your child turns 6 on or before September 1, and has not attended any school for 1^st grade or above, and will not turn 8 until after the first two weeks of the school year, a new law applies. HB1067, passed July 8, 2008, allowed the Philadelphia school board, if they desired, to lower the compulsory school age to 6 or 7 (instead of 8). In December 2008, the PSB did just that, by amending Policy 201 to lower the age to 6.

Basically, if your child turned 6 before September 1, AND is not yet 8 by two weeks into the district's school year, then the child is under the state-wide compulsory school age but over the Philadelphia compulsory school age. You do NOT need to follow the process in the Home Ed law (affidavit, evaluation, portfolio, etc.). Instead, you need to file a notice with the superintendent of the school district of your intention to enroll the student in a program under section 1327.1.

I have created a simple notice of intent form you can use; here, in .pdf form, and here, in .doc form (so you can modify it yourself). Because several people reported that the district folks they dealt with did not understand that the notice of intent was in lieu of an affidavit, I created a "New and Improved" version: here, in .pdf form, and here, in .doc form (so you can modify it yourself).

PHEA has a sample notice of intent here, and some discussion on their home page here. HSLDA has an page explaining how this law was passed here. The text of the bill is here - the relevant section is on page 45.

Confused? If you need clarification, your best bet is to contact the PDE.

Here is HB1067 [brackets mine]. Note that this applies only to the Philadelphia School District (which is the only "district of the first class" in the state).

Section 2103. Board of public education; additional duties.--The duties of the board of public education in districts of the first class, in addition to the duties prescribed in this act, shall be--
...
(8) Provided, that notwithstanding the provisions of section 1326 [the compulsory school age section], the governing authority of the school district may establish the compulsory school age at no earlier than age six. The provisions of section 1326 shall continue to apply to any student enrolled in a [home education] program under section 1327.1 [the home education program section] or to any student whose parent or guardian files a notice with the superintendent of the school district of the intention to enroll the student in a program under section 1327.1.

Here is PSD Policy 201, amended on December 17, 2008 to lower the compulsory school age to 6. This applies only to students in the Philadelphia School District.

Policy 201 says:

• Compulsory school age is six years on or before September 1.

...

• The compulsory school age of 6 years old does not apply to children who are being home schooled. For those children, the compulsory school age is 8 years old.
• If a parent or guardian plans to home school their child, they must file an intent to home school with the District when the child turns 6 years of age. However, they are not required to begin their home schooling program until the child is 8 years old.
• Once the child reaches 8 years old, the parent or guardian must submit home schooling plans to the District for approval prior to the school year and also furnish evidence at the end of the school year that the home schooling took place.

(As I see it, this policy has some problems; for example, there is no such thing as "home schooling" under PA state law, only home education programs, homebound instruction, private tutoring, etc. In addition, "the parent or guardian must submit home schooling plans to the District for approval prior to the school year and also furnish evidence at the end of the school year that the home schooling took place." is at best an inaccurate summary of the requirements of the home education law.)

Confused? If you need clarification, your best bet is to contact the PDE.

Child turning 8 during school year: 

If your child turns eight before or during the first two weeks of the annual school term, the affidavit needs to be filed by the child's birth date.  If the child turns 8 during the rest of the school term, the affidavit should be filed prior to the beginning of the next school year.  See 24 PS 13-1304 Admission of beginners. You can file your affidavit for the next year (and thus begin counting your 180 days or 900/990 hours) as early as July 1.

(Technically speaking, if the school district promotes students semi-annually (which I don't think any of them do anymore), and the child turns 8 by the first two weeks of the second semester, you'd have to file by the child's birth date.)

Child between 8 and 17:

If your child is over age 8 (except as noted above) and under age 17 you must file.  You do not have to file once a student turns 17, though you may if you wish.

Young Graduates (under age 17):

Note that while students who have graduated from a bricks-and-mortar high school before age 17 are no longer considered to be of compulsory school age, this does NOT apply to students who graduate from a home education program before age 17.  If you are under 17 and have graduated from a home education program, the PDE is of the opinion that you still have to file as if you hadn’t graduated. See also If You Start, You Must Finish. See 24 PS 13-1326 Definitions. Contact the PDE if you have questions about this.

Child turns 17 mid-year:

If your child turns 17 during the school year, and you do not intend to report the following year, it is the PDE’s opinion that you must still have an evaluation and file the end-of-year paperwork to close out your home education program.  Otherwise, you can be deemed out of compliance, and therefore truant, for the days you have home educated.  Thus if you age out of the compulsory school requirement by turning 17 during the school year, you are still supposed to get an evaluation and file the end-of-year paperwork.

According to the PDE's FAQ page, "Home education is a way of fulfilling the requirements for compulsory attendance, and students must attend school until the day of their 17^th birthday.  Therefore, the supervisor of the home education program must provide a portfolio and evaluator’s report for at least the period of time the student is age 16 up to and including the day before the student’s seventeenth birthday to ensure that there is no question as to whether the student has fulfilled compulsory education requirements." 

Will your district insist on it? This is one of those situations where each of the 501 PA school districts handle things differently. Practically speaking, some families do not bother with the end-of-year paperwork and have no problems. It seems rare for a school district to threaten truancy charges for a student who is already 17. However, some districts do ask for the end-of-year paperwork. If you don't want to burn any bridges, it is probably wise to file at least a minimal version of the end-of-year paperwork. If you choose not to submit a <portfolio + evaluation>, you may want to be prepared to do so if asked.

See 24 PS 13-1327 Compulsory school attendance.

Child 17 or older:

You do not have to file an affidavit for a child who is 17 or older at the start of the school year, though you may if you wish.  Assuming your child has not yet graduated, should you continue to file after they turn 17?  That depends on your situation.  Some homeschoolers do, some don't. Here are some things to consider:

-- If you do not file, your child will no longer legally be considered a home educated student.  They will have basically the same legal status as a student who leaves school before graduation.  This may or may not be an issue, depending on your situation.

Think it through to see if there is anything your child is doing (think eligibility) or getting (think benefits) that may be affected by not reporting. This isn't a problem for some people, but because everyone's situation is different, it's wise to go through a mental checklist of things that might be affected if the state no longer considers your child a student. Health insurance? Car insurance? Benefits of various kinds? Child support? Custody issues? Extra-curricular program eligibility? Sports eligibility? Trust fund? (Of course, even if student status is required for something-or-other, you may be able to document it another way - but ask first, to avoid nasty expensive/disruptive surprises later.)

-- Some, but not all, PA Diploma Programs require that you register as a home educated student until graduation, regardless of age. Others allow you to stop registering when you turn 17. In addition, some will issue diplomas to students who have been privately tutored, and some will not. The PDE believes that a student must have been on record as a homeschooler of some kind before using a diploma program. This whole thing is a very fuzzy/complex area. (See the PDE's memo of June 2008.) If you are using a diploma program, check their guidelines to avoid problems, and contact the PDE to double-check.

-- If you are planning on applying for PHEAA funding for the freshman year of college, you will probably not be able to get the superintendent's signature as proof that you have completed high school if you are no longer filing. This is one of the major reasons why students continue to file even though they've reached 17. There are other, generally more complex, ways to qualify for PHEAA funding, such as getting a GED or using a PA diploma program (assuming, of course, that the program you choose does not require that you continue to file), but you'll want to plan carefully to avoid last-minute red-tape surprises. (Don't know what I'm talking about? This is an important factor for many people, so read more here.)

-- There may be other considerations - everyone's situation is different.

Where do these crazy rules come from?

In PA, according to the PDE, a child is of compulsory school age from the time the child enters school as a "beginner" (which may be no later than at the age of 8 years), until the age of 17 or graduation from a high school, whichever occurs first.  A “beginner” is a child who enters a school district’s lowest elementary school grade that is above kindergarten (in other words, a child who enters first grade).  Confused?!

Yes, this is confusing!  If you are interested in the complex law behind this, you’ll want to read 24 PS 13-1304 Admission of beginners, 24 PS 13-1326 Definitions, and 24 PS 13-1327 Compulsory school attendance; and the code, 022 Pa. Code § 11.13. Compulsory school age.  You could also contact the PDE Homeschooling Liaison for verification & clarification, especially if you have unique circumstances.  If you live in the Philadelphia School District there's an extra law to take into account - see here for details and links.