[NOTE: This article should not be considered legal advice. For specific legal questions, please consult with a licensed attorney. Homeschool families may be eligible for legal assistance by contacting Home School Legal Defense Association.]
Parents who withdraw their children from public school may do so between academic years (i.e., during summer break), or at anytime during the school year. You are not required to keep your child enrolled in the same school for the entire academic term. If you make the switch to homeschooling between academic years, you may choose not to send any correspondence to your public school. The law does not require it, and you may never be contacted by public school officials. Depending on the size of the community and the population of the school, the school officials may just assume your family moved out of the district or switched to a private school. Our experience has been that children withdrawn after the end of the school year usually are not contacted at all. On the other hand, parents who withdraw their children mid-year or after school has begun, are often contacted; and the public school requests some formal statement of withdrawal. If a student merely stops attending school without explanation, the school is likely to mark the child as absent without an excuse. Once again, depending on the size and individual policies of the school, the amount of time a student can be absent will vary, but usually the school will make some effort to determine if the student has left the district or is actually truant.
Whenever you are contact by any state/school authority figure, communicate with them in an error-free professional letter on your school letterhead, or contact your curriculum provider, if you have been so instructed. If you do not have letterhead for your school, then an error-free letter, neatly typed on plain paper will suffice. Of course, since your homeschool is your own private school, you are free to design and create your own letterhead (keeping in mind the need for professionalism). Keep photocopies of all correspondence sent or received on file. Below is a sample letter, but there is no specific format required. Please feel free to draft your own letter, but generally we have found that it is best to keep it brief. Illinois law requires no action on the part of parents when withdrawing their children from other private or parochial schools. However, once again, common sense dictates that some written notification be given to the private school, if only to state that the child’s attendance will be terminated.
When a child is transferred from one public school to another public school, it is usually a two letter process. The initial letter is a letter of transfer as described above. The second letter is a letter from the new school to the old school (within two weeks of the first letter) requesting the transfer of the child’s permanent school records.
You may choose to send a second letter requesting that your child’s permanent school record be transferred to your school’s address, or you may include another paragraph in your first letter making this request.
Public schools are usually not in the habit of sending these records to a child’s home and may initially offer some resistance. However, because you are operating a legal private school in the state of Illinois, they are required by law to send these records to your school.
Sample Letter for Withdrawing Your Child from Public School:
Note: If your local school principal knows you are intending to homeschool and you want to attempt to allay any fears or affirm the legality of your private home school, you could explicitly include the name of your home school and advise that “[Sydney Smith] receives instruction in all branches of education and is in compliance with the requirements of the Compulsory Attendance Law as required by Illinois law.” However, in Illinois Home Schools are considered private schools and no mention of homeschooling is generally necessary.
In addition, particularly for older students (Jr. High or High School age) you may choose to send a second letter requesting that your child’s permanent school record be transferred to your school’s address or you may include another paragraph in your first letter making this request—“Please forward (student’s name) permanent school records to his/her new school at the following address (address of your home school).”
Sample Letter For Response to Contact Initiated by Public School Officials Questioning Homeschooling
(Re-write this letter in your own words)