Issues for Homeschoolers

Current statistics show 3,654 children are being homeschooled in NYC. Read about recent problems for homeschooling parents in NYC, and changes in eligibility for special ed services for homeschoolers in NYS. Write to your representatives and help to change the law!

Provision of Special Education Services to Students with Disabilities who are Home Schooled

The memo on the NYS Education Department website specifically says that private schooled kids will continue to receive services, while homeschooled kids will not be eligible for special ed services.

As homeschoolers, we pay taxes for schools which we choose not to attend (thus saving our city quite a few dollars), and we pay taxes for special ed. services too. While our children may or may not need these services, I feel strongly that they should be given freely to all children who need them. Please write to your representatives and tell them how you feel.

• Contact info for Assembly
• Contact info for State Senators

This excerpt is from an article taken from the HSLDA website:

Trouble in the City

Over the past few months, several homeschool families in New York City have found themselves in trouble even though they were in compliance with homeschool regulations. Most of the problems are due to delays in the paperwork sent to the Central Office of Home Schooling for the New York City Department of Education.

While many parents do not receive timely paperwork back from their school district, the Central Office only recently sent out the home instruction packets that normally go out in July or August. Most of the problems seem to be due to inadequate personnel. There are only three staff members for over 2,500 children being taught at home.

Even more troubling, several Home School Legal Defense Association member families in NYC received visits this winter from social workers or attendance officers. These parents had removed their children from public school and had properly notified the Central Office that they were homeschooling. Because of the Central Office’s delay in processing the paperwork, the local schools had reported these children as being truant.

At least one of these families was threatened with court action and the removal of their children if they didn’t enroll them in school. [Some] families had to personally visit the Central Office to have their children removed from their local public school roster.