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Ohio Law - again


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Thought I'd put this in a new topic instead of reviving the one earlier this week.  

 

I sent our notification in last week, as directed under the new law, to our local school district's superintendent.  This is a change for us because in prior years we always notified to the superintendent of our county board.  

 

Anyway, today, I received a letter back from the superintendent of our county board,  the same person who's been receiving our notifications for years.  This letter lists all of my children who are homeschooling and then reads as follows:

 

"This [county board of education] has received your notification for home education.

 

With the passage of H.B. 59, the budget bill, all home school notifications revert back to your local school district superintendents.

 

The children listed above are excused from school attendance for the 2014-2015 school year under section 3221.04 of the Ohio Revised pending approval from your local school district."

 

The bolding is mine.   What does this mean?  First of all, am I right in assuming this letter is meaningless as it didn't come from the right office?  It states that the kids are excused but then says that it is all pending the approval of the office that I originally sent the letter to?

 

I'm trying to figure out whether I should call. . .   Which office I should call. . . or should I just ride this out and assume that we o.k. for this year and ignore the questions I have.

 

Any ideas?

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I am in the same boat this year as I am sending in my notification to the local school super when I used to send it in to the county.  I think the purpose of the letter you received is to inform homeschoolers in your county that the law has changed and they are now to notify their local school super and to let the homeschoolers know that the county board no longer has authority to grant an excusal (like many, he uses the incorrect word "approval" ).

 

If it weren't for my local homeschool email lists, I would not have even realized that the law has been changed.  Just last month I received a letter from the new homeschooling liaison for our country requesting a ton of information and testing results that are not required per Ohio Law.  Luckily, it looks like he is out of a job, although I don't know if he realizes it yet.

 

ETA: I would ignore the letter and expect your excusal letter to arrive from your local public school super. soon.

 

ETA2:  I wonder how many local school super. offices are going to be blindsided by the new law and have no idea what to do when they begin getting paperwork from homeschoolers since they have never dealt with us in the past.  Heck, last year my district didn't even know about the new law permitting homeschoolers  to play sports for the school teams until I went in to sign my boys up. 

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I am in the same boat this year as I am sending in my notification to the local school super when I used to send it in to the county.  I think the purpose of the letter you received is to inform homeschoolers in your county that the law has changed and they are now to notify their local school super and to let the homeschoolers know that the county board no longer has authority to grant an excusal (like many, he uses the incorrect word "approval" ).

 

If it weren't for my local homeschool email lists, I would not have even realized that the law has been changed.  Just last month I received a letter from the new homeschooling liaison for our country requesting a ton of information and testing results that are not required per Ohio Law.  Luckily, it looks like he is out of a job, although I don't know if he realizes it yet.

 

ETA: I would ignore the letter and expect your excusal letter to arrive from your local public school super. soon.

 

ETA2:  I wonder how many local school super. offices are going to be blindsided by the new law and have no idea what to do when they begin getting paperwork from homeschoolers since they have never dealt with us in the past.  Heck, last year my district didn't even know about the new law permitting homeschoolers  to play sports for the school teams until I went in to sign my boys up. 

 

 

The thing that is confusing to me is that the letter originated from the office that was responsible last year, but they had obviously seen the new notification because it listed my 6yo that I didn't need to notify for until this year.  I didn't mail the notification to them at all this year because I was aware of the new requirements and mailed it up the road to my local district superintendent.  Completely different physcial locations separated by  miles so either the local office is just issuing these letters as a stall method or they are physically carrying the notifications mailed correctly to the old office in order to issue these non-excusal letters so that the new office can issue the excusals later.  

 

I have a call in to the guy who  is the assistant to the lady that signed this letter to get some clarification.  

 

Yes, I noticed the word "approval" and growled to myself.  

 

I'll probably get the official excusal letter tomorrow which will render this whole conversation null and void :)

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How new is the law?  I sent ours to the school board super last year...

In any event, personally I'd ride it out.  If you sent it to the school board, I'd just wait to hear from them.

 

It is new this year.  I had already sent my notification in the beginning of June not realizing I sent it to the wrong place.  As of last month, my county was not aware of the new change in the law, either. 

 

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We have a homeschooler on our county board--she's the president!  :hurray:   She's been keeping us well-informed of the changes. She says that the county boards have arrangements with some of the school districts to review the notifications, but you still notify your school district and (if I recall correctly) the school district still sends the acknowledgement letter. This means that for those districts, you still send your letter to them (the school district), they send it to the county board, county board reviews it & ...this is where I think this is the way it goes...sends it back to the school, and the school sends you the acknowledgement letter. 

 

I suppose your county board has this arrangement with your school district, OP, and perhaps wants to let you know that they received your notification from the school & everything looks ok--but the official letter has to come from the school district.

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And for anyone who's wondering, whether or not your county board has such an arrangement with your school district doesn't matter--you still mail your notification to the superintendent of your school district. If they do have this kind of arrangement with their county board, then they've just hired out the review process...they still need to receive the notifications and send the acknowledgement letters out.

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We have a homeschooler on our county board--she's the president!  :hurray:   She's been keeping us well-informed of the changes. She says that the county boards have arrangements with some of the school districts to review the notifications, but you still notify your school district and (if I recall correctly) the school district still sends the acknowledgement letter. This means that for those districts, you still send your letter to them (the school district), they send it to the county board, county board reviews it & ...this is where I think this is the way it goes...sends it back to the school, and the school sends you the acknowledgement letter. 

 

I suppose your county board has this arrangement with your school district, OP, and perhaps wants to let you know that they received your notification from the school & everything looks ok--but the official letter has to come from the school district.

 

 

This makes sense!  Thanks for outlining this because it fits the situation perfectly.  I do think they need to change the wording of their letter.  Something that doesn't include the words, "your children are excused pending . . . ".  If it's just an acknowledgement that they have received it then it should just say that.  Actually, it's unnecessary.  I never received an acknowledgement of receipt before.  I'd be perfectly happy that whoever needs to do it takes care of it without the middle step of confusing me :)   I have my tracking number, delivery notice as acknowledgement that they have received it.

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This makes sense!  Thanks for outlining this because it fits the situation perfectly.  I do think they need to change the wording of their letter.  Something that doesn't include the words, "your children are excused pending . . . ".  If it's just an acknowledgement that they have received it then it should just say that.  Actually, it's unnecessary.  I never received an acknowledgement of receipt before.  I'd be perfectly happy that whoever needs to do it takes care of it without the middle step of confusing me :)   I have my tracking number, delivery notice as acknowledgement that they have received it.

According to the Ohio Revised Code, the superindendent must notify the parent in writing that the child is excused from school attendance. So yes, they do have to issue an excusal.

 

 

 

 C. (1) If the superintendent, upon review of the information, determines that it is in compliance with all requirements set forth in paragraph (A) of this rule, the superintendent shall notify the parent(s) in writing that the child is excused from school attendance for the remainder of the current school year.
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According to the Ohio Revised Code, the superindendent must notify the parent in writing that the child is excused from school attendance. So yes, they do have to issue an excusal.

 

 

 

Sorry, I think you misunderstood me.  The letter I received today was NOT from our superintendent.  It was from the county superintendent and said "the children are excused PENDING approval from our local superintendent".  So this letter I got today isn't signed by the right person and doesn't give the excusal needed because it says that the approval is pending.  

 

I'm assuming that I will eventually get a "real" excusal letter from my local superintendent.

 

ETA:  Maybe we're saying the same thing.  I don't have an excusal in my hands right now from the right person under the new law. 

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I understood that the letter you got was from the county and not the superindendent. I was really referring to your mention that you have your receipt of having sent your notification and I inferred from what you said that that was enough, that you did not need anything else from them.

 

Thanks . . . I realized that we were saying the same thing in different ways.  That's why I'm concerned . . this letter took me by surprise because it didn't say what I was expecting it to say.  They added in a step and I'm still waiting for my official letter.  

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I wouldn't worry about it.  I think the districts are still trying to work out how to apply the new notification law.  They probably have always forwarded the notices to the county ESC and they just did what they usually do.  The county knows about the law change, so they are issuing excuse letters within the 14 days while the district figures out their job.  Fortunately for me, I live in a city school district and we have always notified the local school superintendent, but I know a lot of people are dealing with the changes.

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I'm sorry to say I didn't read all this thread but I got my letter from the school district itself.  I did send mine to the county though because they are processing the letters for the district. I could have sent it to the district but then the district just sends it on to the county, who sends it back to the district, who then issues the letter. Not confusing at all, right?  

 

Did you ever get a letter from the school district? If not I might call the county office and ask if they are subcontracted to manage these. I have been very confused also.

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I'm sorry to say I didn't read all this thread but I got my letter from the school district itself.  I did send mine to the county though because they are processing the letters for the district. I could have sent it to the district but then the district just sends it on to the county, who sends it back to the district, who then issues the letter. Not confusing at all, right?  

 

Did you ever get a letter from the school district? If not I might call the county office and ask if they are subcontracted to manage these. I have been very confused also.

Our local rep (the one on our county ed board) says that to cover yourself, you should still send your letter to your school district/superintendent, as this is what the law requires. Most counties who have a contract with the school systems will of course process your notification correctly, and you will still get your excusal letter from your school district. But--if someone doesn't do their job correctly, or something gets misplaced, lost in the mail, etc...you should have your postal receipt showing that you sent it to the correct person.

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You can do it any time during the summer. Some districts, like cintinative said, have a date/time period that they prefer, but you are not obligated by law to notify by their date. As far as after the school year starts--I don't know the law about that. It would probably follow the truancy law, which I think is 10 days...so you should get your notification to them within 10 days of the start of school. I've heard that there are some districts whose office staff takes a month off in the summer, so there might not be anyone to reply to your notification if you send it in early--I don't know if they have someone checking the mail for things like this. It could depend on the size of the district. I can imagine that perhaps very small towns might operate this way (?).

 

I need to send mine in still--I need my excusal/acknowledgment letter to show to my library to get my teacher card renewed for next school year. Our library teacher's cards (we have fantastic teacher benefits in this library system) expire each year on August 15.

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A quote from my local person: 

 

The law has changed concerning who local  school residents should notify.

 

House Bill 59,Page 1361;Sec A,2

http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/BillText130/130_HB_59_EN_N.pdf

 

_________________________

 

That section states: 

 

Excuses from future attendance at or past absence from school or a special education program may be granted for the causes, by the authorities, and under the following conditions:

(A) The superintendent of the city or exempted village school district or the educational service center in which the child resides may excuse the child from attendance for any part of the remainder of the current school year upon satisfactory showing of either of the following facts:
 
(2) That the child is being instructed at home by a person qualified to teach the branches in which instruction is required, and such additional branches, as the advancement and needs of the child may, in the opinion of such superintendent, require. In each such case the issuing superintendent shall file in his the superintendent's office, with a copy of the excuse, papers showing how the inability of the child to attend school or a special education program or the qualifications of the person instructing the child at home were determined. All such excuses shall become void and subject to recall upon the removal of the disability of the child or the cessation of proper home instruction; and thereupon the child or the child's parents may be proceeded against after due notice whether such excuse be recalled or not.
 
__________________________________
I believe the phrases crossed out are what was removed, and the underlined has been added. I think what this means is that it makes it the responsibility of every school district to issue excusals. They can contract out the review of the paperwork to the ESC if they want, but they still have to do the excusal themselves.
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Okay I was just told today (as stated above) that you have to have your letter in before public school starts or you can be considered truant.  This was news to me but I always get mine in before the school starts so I never looked into it.

 

As gardeningmama posted, they changed the law. It actually is hard to get at the law change because the OAC posted online does not show what was changed (only the H.B.), but she is right--it is now supposed to go to the local school district. Complicating things (at least for me) is that my county managed it before, and technically still does, so I got a request letter from them in May. I went ahead and sent my information to them before I had sorted this law out. It turns out that they process the paperwork for the school district. However, if I am to have coverage under the law as written, I really need to send it to the school district, regardless of if the county sent me the request and ends up processing anyway.  

 

All this to say--I have been confused--I think I get it now, and send it to your district before school starts.

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 This means that for those districts, you still send your letter to them (the school district), they send it to the county board, county board reviews it & ...this is where I think this is the way it goes...sends it back to the school, and the school sends you the acknowledgement letter. 

 

Wow. What a convoluted process. 

 

Does anyone know how to determine which districts are sending the letter of intent to the country board for review and which districts are doing the review "in house?"

 

I received a letter late June from the new county homeschool liaison asking for a bunch of information that was against the law.  I know that HSLDA sent him a nice letter in response, but I was hoping that the new revision in the law had cut him out of the process.   Now I am not so sure. :scared:

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Wow. What a convoluted process. 

 

Does anyone know how to determine which districts are sending the letter of intent to the country board for review and which districts are doing the review "in house?"

 

I received a letter late June from the new county homeschool liaison asking for a bunch of information that was against the law.  I know that HSLDA sent him a nice letter in response, but I was hoping that the new revision in the law had cut him out of the process.   Now I am not so sure. :scared:

You'd probably need to ask your county board/ESC (educational service center). You could ask your school district, but I'd ask the county. Either way, everyone needs to send their NOI to their school district.

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