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.
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299A.5 Reporting of evaluation results.
The results of evaluations administered to children of compulsory attendance age who are under competent private instruction shall be reported by the evaluation administrator to the child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian, the school district of residence of the child, and the department of education. Personally identifiable information relating to or contained in the evaluation scores is confidential and shall not be released without the prior consent of the child's parent, guardian, or cu...
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...
Private Instruction Handbook: Home Schooling or Enrollment in a Non-Accredited "School"
This Department of Education publication is published annually to provide information
for parents and school district officials on private instruction, including Competent Private Instruction (CPI) and Independent Private Instruction (IPI).
Home School Supervising Teacher Visitation Log
This optional easy-to-use form is offered to help supervising teachers keep the required log of their visits with homeschooling families.
Certificate of Immunization Exemption
This document must be filed with your CPI form if you intend to use the exemption for immunizations. Those using IPI or CPI Option 2 with Opt-Out do not need to file immunization records.
Homeschooling in Iowa: Know the Law and Rules
Homeschooling laws vary widely from state to state. The Iowa law and rules may seem quite complicated at first, but NICHE has created
a number of resources and forms to help home educators find their way through the maze of regulations. Here, you will find a brief overview of the legal requirements and options in Iowa.
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.
299.1B 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...
Private Instruction (Home Schooling)
Private Instruction is instruction using a plan and a course of study in a setting other than a public or organized accredited nonpublic school. It includes competent private instruction (CPI) by a licensed practitioner or a nonlicensed person, independent private instruction (IPI), home school assistance programs (HSAP), and non-accredited nonpublic schools.
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...
CPI Student Eligibility Form
The Iowa Department of Education created this form for parents of CPI students to use when certifying that their students meet eligibility requirements set by state associations for participation in actvities accessed through dual enrollment.
Report of Portfolio Evaluator Selection Form
If you will be using the portfolio evaluation method, you may find this simple optional form helpful.
When filled out and submitted to your resident school district, it provides a mechanism to fulfill
the legal requirement of seeking the school district superintendent's approval of your selected
portfolio evaluator. This approval process is simply a check of the appropriateness of your
evaluator's license.
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.7 Notice to parents--remediation.
If a child is placed under competent private instruction and the child fails to make adequate progress under competent private instruction, the director of the department of education, or the director's designee, shall notify the parent, guardian, or custodian of the child that the child is required to attend an accredited public or nonpublic school, unless approval for competent private instruction under a remediation plan is granted. The director, or the director's designee, may provisionally ...
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 ...
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Featured Resources
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Homeschooling and Libraries: New Solutions and Opportunities
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Christian Unschooling : Growing Your Children in the Freedom of Christ
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