TRANSCRIPT
Shanxi: Hello, this is Shanxi Omoniyi, host of MPE’s Homeschool Hints podcast to encourage you wherever you may be on your homeschool journey.
Today's episode is going to be about withdrawing your child from their current school. You may be thinking, what? The school year just started.
Here's something that surprised me too. Our website sees a little spike in traffic every September on a specific blog post, which is how to write a school withdrawal letter.
Maybe you're sitting in your car in the school pickup line right now listening to this because the school year hasn't started the way you thought it would. Maybe it's your child saying they want to stop going to school. Maybe it's a teacher situation. Whatever it is, you may be thinking it's too early and you'll just need more time.
But I want you to know right now, you don't need to wait any longer. You can withdraw your child today, this week. There is no season, there's no right or wrong time. You don't need any permission slips from any districts.
There is a right way to do it, though, and this episode is going to walk you step by step through that process so you don't get charged with truancy. We're going to write the letter together, we'll talk about how to send it, and then I'm going to walk you through what to do if the school pushes back, because some of them will.
There's one thing you need to know right off the bat. Every state has a different homeschool law. So we're going to tackle Kansas and Missouri because primarily,most of our listeners come from these two states.
However, if you're not from one of those two states, there's a wealth of information at the Home School Legal Defense Association website, and we'll provide a link to that in the episode notes.
So step one, make sure you do this in order. In Kansas, you need to register your homeschool before you withdraw your child, not afterward, but before.
The reason for this is that Kansas currently views homeschoolers as non accredited private schoolers, or NAPS for short. So that's non-accredited private school. So you're not “pulling your child out of school.” You're simply transferring them from one school to another.
However, your school has to exist first. You need to register it with the Kansas State Department of Education.
So now it's the time when you need to name your non-accredited private school. This can trip some people up, so don't overthink this. Your last name plus academy is completely above board.
We have a whole blog post on our website with some ideas for names if you want to consider this a little bit further, and you need to register once. So say your next child joins your homeschool, you don't need to update. If your child graduates and you still are going strong homeschooling the others, you don't need to update anything then either. You only go back and change it if you either rename your school or you move to a different location, or you've stopped homeschooling altogether. Don't let this be the thing that stalls you for a month.
Now, one important note on that registration form, and this is something that we've been directly involved in, in 2004. According to Kansas statute, all you need to do is submit the name and address of your school. If the online registration form asks for anything more than that, say a phone number, email address, number of students, grade levels, none of which the law requires, you to hand over, let us know right away. That does not need to exist.
In addition, we recommend that you print or save a copy of whatever you've submitted for your own records.
Missouri families do not need to register their homeschool with the state, so you don't need to file anything to get started.
Now for step two, the letter itself. In Kansas, the letter is required by law because three consecutive unexcused absences constitute truancy under the state law. So you can formally withdraw. You can do it by phone or in person, but we recommend a written letter because a phone call can sometimes, you know, get lost. However, a letter is permanent. If something goes sideways six months from now, you want the document, not the phone call.
Before you write, just make sure you know who in administration is responsible for student records, and we recommend addressing the letter to that official by name.
So here's version one of the school withdrawal letter, and feel free to retype these in your own words as needed. And this is a mid-year withdrawal.
It starts off simply, Dear (put in the official's name here). Dear Sir, Dear Madam, we are writing to inform you that our child (or our children, here you give your child's name) they is / they are withdrawing from (school name) and will not complete the current school year. They will instead be attending a private school for the remainder of the school year. Please remove their names from your records. To the extent necessary to complete the enrollment at their new school, you will be contacted directly by the school regarding the transfer of records. Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely, (put your name there).
Now this second version is going to be before the school year starts, in case you're listening to this podcast episode in the future.
Dear (official's name). We are writing to inform you that our child / our children, (children's names), will not be re-enrolling at school name for the coming school year. They will instead be attending a private school. Please remove their names from your records. To the extent necessary to complete the enrollment at their new school, you will be contacted directly by the school regarding the transfer of records. Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely, (your name).
You do not need to give any detailed explanations, you do not need to explain your curriculum plans, you do not need to apologize or say, we've had some concerns about so-and-so's class. It's just simple, short and sweet.
Finally, in a separate letter, do follow up and request the records. Send this letter request to every school that your child's attended, whether that's elementary school, middle school, etc. These records tell you where your child is academically, which can help you pick curriculum and spot any academic gaps. This is you now, you're the principal, so this is your file.
How to send it? We recommend certified mail or hand deliver it and ask for a signed receipt with a name, date and stamp. It doesn't have to be the person you addressed it to, anyone in the office can sign it. If you're not sure the situation will unfold nicely, we recommend the hand delivery route.
Those letters that I quoted you are slightly different if you're writing a letter for Missouri school. In Missouri law, a home school is recognized as something separate from a private school. So instead of using those templates, we recommend rewriting it to just say they will be attending home school. We have other versions of our school withdrawal letter for Missouri on our website.
Now sometimes you send the letter and that’s the end of it. However, at other times we've heard from our constituents that they have gotten some pushback from the school.
If this happens, you can rest assured, number one, your letter is legally sufficient. Number two, you are not required to sign anything that the school hands you. And this is important.
We hear from families sometimes that they get handed the document, sometimes called something like a notice of withdrawal or non-attendance or purposes of homeschooling, and the language states that if they don't sign that the district is required by law to report their children as truant. Some versions of this letter also waive the district's liability for a truancy report made quote unquote in good faith, end quote, even if the facts turn out to be untrue.
We've also heard from families who said the school told them they must receive a letter from the private school the child is transferring to rather than from the parents. Again, none of these requirements exist in homeschool law, so we recommend not signing anything that the school gives you.
Signing school-drafted paperwork can give them standing to come look at your homeschool later, even if someone decides that your child is “at risk” just because they've been homeschooling. Every family who signs a document like this can make the next family’s withdrawal harder, and it also builds a paper record that can get cited if somebody is proposing new regulations on homeschooling.
So for these reasons, we recommend that you just be pleasant but firm. You can say thank you. Our withdrawal letter is what we'll be providing. End of story.
Number three, special needs and IEPs or individualized education plans. Some schools warn families that they will lose special education services if they withdraw. While it is true that Kansas districts are not required to service IEPs for non public school students, some do on a case by case basis. So it's always good to ask.
Even if the answer is no, homeschooling without an IEP is very doable, and it's a lot less intimidating than it may sound at first. An IEP exists so that a public school can individualize a plan, coordinate transportation, and organize therapy. However, you're already doing that in your house. So HSLDA even suggests we use the term Student Education Plan or SEP.
Number four, know your state's legal requirements because, as I mentioned before, homeschool laws vary by state.
For example, Missouri recognized homeschools as their own category. Kansas treats them like non-accredited private schools or NAPS for short. For record keeping, again, the requirements vary by state. Missouri requires 1,000 hours of instruction per school term, and we have more information on this on our website.
Finally, get legal backup. We recommend that every homeschooler join HSLDA. If a district does get aggressive, you don't want to be looking for lawyers and attorneys at the 11th hour. You just want somebody fast, quick, and someone who's on your side, and HSLDA is that resource.
If you're an MPE member at the family tier or higher, you get a discount on an annual HSLDA membership. We recommend you join us first because we cannot apply the discount retroactively.
Hopefully this has given you a whirlwind tour of how to write a school withdrawal letter. So just a quick recap.
If you're in Kansas, you register with KSDA first. In Missouri, you just set up your homeschool.
Number two, write your own letter.
Number three, send it certified mail or hand deliver it with a signed receipt.
Four, request records from every school your child has attended.
Five, do not sign anything the school gives you in addition to your own letter.
And six, make sure you have HSLDA membership.
One final thing, we really recommend that you have community when you start homeschooling. The first one to three years can be the hardest, and it's a lot harder when you're doing it alone.
Our association has many resources, including mentor moms, volunteers, who can talk with you about a specific situation and keep it confidential.
Coming up is our 40th anniversary celebration, October 1st at Journey Bible Church in Olathe. If you just want to come meet other families who all made this decision at some point, you are very welcome.
And finally, later in the year, we have something called Women's Encouragement Day. This is just a wonderful day to meet in the middle of the winter and encourage one another and finish up the school year strong. This year's Women's Encouragement Day will be January 23rd.
Please continue the conversation with us on our website, midwesthomeschoolers.org, or email us at podcast at midwestparenteducators.org. We’re also active on social media if you’d like to connect with us there. Thanks to Kevin McLeod of incompetech.com for providing this royalty-free song Wholesome, which is licensed under creativecommons.org.
