Legal/Homeschool Laws
Laws that regulate home education vary from state to state. It is important to understand the legal requirements in your state and to be aware of legislative and other legal issues that affect homeschoolers in your community. We've compiled resources that will help you become informed. Although homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, and the vast majority of homeschoolers face no problems, you may find that you need legal assistance at some point in your homeschooling career. We've compiled a list of resources to help you find the support you need. And if you'd like to become more involved in working towards homeschooling freedoms, we discuss some of the issues facing homeschoolers that we hope you find compelling.
State Laws
Read the laws regulating home education in Iowa and browse through the case law and legal opinions relating to those laws, along with government publications relating to homeschooling and summaries of the laws.
Forms
Which forms do you need to fill out? Where can you get them? Here is a list of useful forms for homeschooling in Iowa.
Legal Support
If you need legal information or have run into a legal situation regarding your decision to homeschool, these resources will be helpful.
Lobbying Groups
A listing of local and national lobbying groups and information on how you can become involved in the political process to ensure the freedom to homeschool is protected.
Attorneys
When searching for an attorney, it is helpful to know whether he or she has experience working with homeschoolers and is interested in protecting the right to homeschool.
Legal Issues
Is homeschooling legal? Which laws pertain to homeschoolers and which don't? How do homeschoolers protect their rights to freely educate their children and to preserve their privacy?
Government Resources
A listing of local and state government resources, including your state's Department of Education, school districts, and Senate and House of Representative information.
What's Popular
Optional Report Form for CPI Option 2 with Opt-Out (no reporting required)
This report form can be used by parents who are providing private instruction under the CPI Option 2 with Opt-Out.
While all reporting is optional under this option, parents can file this form to notify their resident school district officials that they are providing private instruction to students of compulsory school attendance age.
Iowa School Districts
A listing of all the school districts in Iowa.
299.1B Failure to attend--loss of driver's license.
A person who does not attend a public school, an accredited nonpublic school, competent private instruction in accordance with the provisions of chapter 299A, an alternative school, adult education classes, or who is not employed at least twenty hours per week shall not receive a motor vehicle operator's license until age eighteen. A person under age eighteen who has been issued a motor vehicle operator's license who does not attend a public school, an accredited nonpublic school, competent priv...
299.1 Attendance requirements.
Except as provided in section 299.2, the parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian of a child who is of compulsory attendance age, shall cause the child to attend some public school, an accredited nonpublic school, or competent private instruction in accordance with the provisions of chapter 299A, during a school year, as defined under section 279.10. The board of directors of a public school district or the governing body of an accredited nonpublic school shall set the number of days of re...
Privacy Form for Dual-Enrolled or HSAP-Enrolled Student
These option forms are recommended to protect your family's privacy.
They inform school officials that you want protections afforded by federal and state laws.
The form for dual-enrolled or HSAP-enrolled Students notifies school officials
that you are claiming federally mandated privacy protections,
and that you do not want any information concerning your enrolled child --
including directory information -- to be released to anyone without your prior consent.
299A.4 Annual achievement evaluations--requirements and procedure.
1. Each child of compulsory attendance age who is receiving competent private instruction shall either be evaluated annually by May 1, using a nationally recognized standardized achievement evaluation or other assessment tool developed or recognized by the department of education and chosen by the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian from a list of approved evaluations or assessment tools provided by the department of education or be evaluated annually in the manner provided in subsecti...
Test Administrator Certification Statement Form
If you choose to arrange for private -- rather than public school or AEA -- standardized testing
for annual assessment purposes, this form may be attached to the submitted test results
to provide added assurance that the standardized test was administered by
a qualified test administrator using proper testing protocol as dictated by the test publisher.
Plan of Instruction Form-Lined
This "Plan of Instruction" form has been designed by HSLDA and NICHE. Plan of Instruction forms -- lined or unlined -- may be used to comply with the requirement on the Competent Private Instruction Form (Form A) for an attached outline of course of study.
Please keep in mind that the Iowa law & rules are silent as to what subjects must be included on the Plan of Instruction. NICHE "Plan of Instruction" forms have been used and submitted by home educators all across Iowa, and have been accepted...
Privacy Form for Non-Enrolled Student
These option forms are recommended to protect your family's privacy.
They inform school officials that you want protections afforded by federal and state laws.
The form for non-enrolled students notifies school officials of that information about your child --
including directory information -- is confidential information protected by Iowa Code.
Failure to have one of these forms on file with the district and the AEA (where your CPI forms are filed)
can leave your child's information ope...
Contract for Home School Consultation
This optional contract is provided to help define and delineate the rights and responsibilities of both parties in a homeschool consultation arrangement: the parents and the teacher. Attorneys with HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) assisted in its production.
299.2 Exceptions.
Section 299.1 shall not apply to any child:
1. Who has completed the requirements for graduation in an accredited school or has obtained a high school equivalency diploma under chapter 259A.
2. Who is excused for sufficient reason by any court of record or judge.
3. While attending religious services or receiving religious instructions.
4. Who is attending a private college preparatory school accredited or probationally accredited under section 256.11, subsection 13.
5. ...
281—31.2 Reports as to competent private instruction.
31.2(1) Reporting. The parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian of a child of compulsory attendance age who does not enroll the child in a public school or Iowa accredited nonpublic school shall complete a report in duplicate on forms created by the department of education and provided by the resident public school district, indicating the parent, guardian, or custodian’s intent to provide or arrange for competent private instruction for the child for each school year. The report shall be...
299A.6 Failure to make adequate progress.
If the results of evaluations, administered to a child of compulsory attendance age who is under competent private instruction, indicate that the student has failed to make adequate progress, the parent, guardian, or legal custodian shall cause the child to attend an accredited public or nonpublic school at the beginning of the next school year unless, before the beginning of the next school year, the child retakes a different form of the same evaluation, or another evaluation from the approved ...
Iowa School Directory
This school directory for the state of Iowa includes public school districts and nonpublic schools.
299.1A Compulsory attendance age.
A child who has reached the age of six and is under sixteen years of age by September 15 is of compulsory attendance age.
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Featured Resources
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A Different Kind of Teacher: Solving the Crisis of American Schooling
In 1991, shortly after receiving both the New York State and New York City Teacher of the Year Awards, John Gatto resigned to begin a new career as an education reform advocate. In this collection of 16 essays, Gatto analyzes the problems of American...
Shurley English
Shurley English maintains that effective instruction in English must be founded upon an understanding of how the parts of speech work together in a sentence. A good grammar foundation gives students the skills to improve writing. Grammar is the struc...
Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook
A short, illustrated guide to the use of Montessori classroom materials. Describes how to set up a "children's house" - an environment for learning where children can be their own masters.
A Child's Story of America
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Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives
For the first time, Basic Montessori opens the celebrated philosophy and method to a more general public. David Gettman has devised a clear and modern explanation of Montessori's revolutionary ideas about early intellectual development, and provides...