Washington Education Code For Homeschooling
This is not intended to be legal advice and is distributed
for information purposes only. Check for updates online or at
your public library.
Compulsory attendance - Between 8 and 18
years of age.
Links below are to the online version of the Revised Code
of Washington, to the sections applying to home-based instruction
and compulsory education. As the text there is somewhat small,
the relevant portions are here for your convenience. Do check
the actual code to make sure that there haven't been changes.
Chapter
28A.200 RCW: Home-based instruction
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;
(b) Ensure
that test scores or annual academic progress assessments and
immunization records, together with any other records that
are kept relating to the instructional and educational activities
provided, are forwarded to any other public or private school
to which the child transfers. At the time of a transfer to
a public school, the superintendent of the local school district
in which the child enrolls may require a standardized achievement
test to be administered and shall have the authority to determine
the appropriate grade and course level placement of the child
after consultation with parents and review of the child's records;
and
(c) Ensure that a standardized
achievement test approved by the state board of education
is administered annually to the child by a qualified
individual or that an annual assessment of the student's
academic progress is written by a certificated person who is
currently working in the field of education. The state board
of education shall not require these children to meet the student
learning goals, master the essential academic learning requirements,
to take the assessments, or to obtain a certificate of academic
achievement or a certificate of individual achievement pursuant
to RCW 28A.655.061 and 28A.155.045. The standardized test administered
or the annual academic progress assessment written shall be made
a part of the child's permanent records. If, as a result of the
annual test or assessment, it is determined that the child is
not making reasonable progress consistent with his or her age
or stage of development, the parent shall make a good faith effort
to remedy any deficiency.
(2) Failure of a parent to comply with the duties in this
section shall be deemed a failure of such parent's child to attend
school without valid justification under RCW
28A.200.020. Parents who do comply with the duties set forth
in this section shall be presumed to be providing home-based
instruction as set forth in RCW 28A.225.010(4).
RCW
28A.200.020
Home-based
instruction -- Certain decisions responsibility of parent unless
otherwise specified.
The state hereby recognizes that parents who are causing their
children to receive home-based instruction under RCW 28A.225.010(4)
shall be subject only to those minimum state laws and regulations
which are necessary to insure that a sufficient basic educational
opportunity is provided to the children receiving such instruction.
Therefore,
all decisions relating to philosophy or doctrine, selection of
books, teaching materials and curriculum, and methods, timing,
and place in the provision or evaluation of home-based instruction
shall be the responsibility of the parent except for matters
specifically referred to in this chapter.
RCW
28A.225.010
Attendance
mandatory - Age - Exceptions.
(1) All parents in this state of any child eight years of
age and under eighteen years of age shall cause such child to
attend
the public school of the district in which the child resides
and such child shall have the responsibility to and therefore
shall attend for the full time when such school may be in session
unless:
(a) The child is attending an approved private school for
the same time or is enrolled in an extension program as provided
in RCW 28A.195.010(4);
(b) The child is receiving home-based instruction as
provided in subsection (4) of this section;
(c) The child is attending an education center as provided
in chapter 28A.205 RCW;
(d) The school district superintendent of the district in
which the child resides shall have excused such child from attendance
because the child is physically or mentally unable to attend
school, is attending a residential school operated by the
department of social and health services, is incarcerated in
an adult correctional facility, or has been temporarily excused
upon the request of his or her parents for purposes agreed upon
by the school authorities and the parent: PROVIDED, That such
excused absences shall not be permitted if deemed to cause a
serious adverse effect upon the student's educational progress:
PROVIDED FURTHER, That students excused for such temporary absences
may be claimed as full time equivalent students to the extent
they would otherwise have been so claimed for the purposes of
RCW 28A.150.250 and 28A.150.260 and shall not affect school district
compliance with the provisions of RCW 28A.150.220; or
(e) The child is sixteen years of age or older and:
(i) The child is regularly and lawfully employed and
either the parent agrees that the child should not be required
to attend school or the child is emancipated in accordance with
chapter 13.64 RCW;
(ii) The child has already met graduation requirements
in accordance with state board of education rules and regulations;
or
(iii) The child has received a certificate of educational
competence under rules and regulations established by the
state board of education under RCW 28A.305.190.
(2) A parent for the purpose of this chapter means a parent,
guardian, or person having legal custody of a child.
(3) An approved private school for the purposes of this chapter
and chapter 28A.200 RCW shall be one approved under regulations
established by the state board of education pursuant to RCW 28A.305.130.
(4) For the purposes of this chapter and chapter 28A.200
RCW, instruction shall be home-based if it consists of planned
and supervised instructional and related educational activities,
including a curriculum and instruction in the basic skills of
occupational education, science, mathematics, language, social
studies, history, health, reading, writing, spelling, and the
development of an appreciation of art and music, provided for
a number of hours equivalent to the total annual program hours
per grade level established for approved private schools under
RCW 28A.195.010 and 28A.195.040 and if such activities are:
(a) Provided by a parent who is instructing his or her
child only and are supervised by a certificated person. A
certificated person for purposes of this chapter and chapter
28A.200 RCW shall be a person certified under chapter 28A.410
RCW. For purposes of this section, "supervised by a certificated
person" means: The planning by the certificated person and
the parent of objectives consistent with this subsection; a minimum
each month of an average of one contact hour per week with the
child being supervised by the certificated person; and evaluation
of such child's progress by the certificated person. The number
of children supervised by the certificated person shall not exceed
thirty for purposes of this subsection; or
(b) Provided by a parent who is instructing his or her
child only and who has either earned forty-five college level
quarter credit hours or its equivalent in semester hours or has
completed a course in home-based instruction at a postsecondary
institution or a vocational-technical institute; or
(c) Provided by a parent who is deemed sufficiently qualified
to provide home-based instruction by the superintendent of the
local school district in which the child resides.
5) The legislature recognizes that home-based instruction
is less structured and more experiential than the instruction
normally provided in a classroom setting. Therefore, the provisions
of subsection (4) of this section relating to the nature and
quantity of instructional and related educational activities
shall be liberally construed.
Other Resources for this law
The
Homeschool Law
Posted on the Washington Homeschool Organization website.
Washington Homeschool
Laws Explained
AN A to Z RESOURCE
Help on how to follow the Washington homeschool laws as explained
by WA homeschool associations and the WA DOE.
Washington
State's Laws Regarding Home-Based Instruction
Department of Education's Pink Book of explanations and clarifications
of the homeschool laws in Washington. An Acrobat file.
Return to Washington
homeschooling information.
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