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 Georgia 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 Georgia.
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
Past Attempts to Change GA Law
A short list of some of the legal issues homeschooling parents in Georgia have faced in the past.
Home Study Program Monthly Attendance Report - Word format
This is a Georgia Department of Education form. It is in MS Word format. Provided by HEIR.
Georgia Home School Laws from HSLDA
The Home School Legal Defense Association provides a brief summary of the homeschooling laws in Georgia. Includes a link to a legal analysis of laws relating to homeschooling in Georgia.
Declaration of Intent to Utilize a Home Study Program - pdf format
This is a Georgia Department of Education form. This form is in pdf format. Provided by HEIR.
New Driver's Law Affects Home Study Programs
Two distinctly different sections of the Georgia code recently collided in an effort to link compulsory school attendance with driving privileges. Home study parents began receiving conflicting information from their counties last year. Fulton County sent out information which included an attendance form and instructions which assumed that the parent was the homestudy supervisor responsible for signing the attendance form and having it notarized. Dekalb County sent already filled out and notariz...
20-2-690.1. Compulsory Attendance
(a) Every parent, guardian, or other person residing within this state having control or charge of any child or children between their sixth and sixteenth birthdays shall enroll and send such child or children to a public school, a private school, or a home study program that meets the requirements for a public school, a private school, or a home study program ...
Awarding Units of Credit and Acceptance of Transfer Credit and/or Grades
This is a copy of the law regarding transferring credits furnished by the Georgia Department of Education.
GA HB 39: Georgia Homeschooling Law Changes Beginning 2012 / 2013 School Year
Some changes have been made to the homeschooling law in Georgia, and they will go into effect July 1, 2012. There are two major changes that homeschoolers need to be aware of. The first is that they will no longer turn in their paperwork to their local school districts. Now they will report directly to the Department of Education.
The second major change is that homeschoolers will only be required to turn in attendance forms once a year to the Department of Education. Currently homeschoole...
20-2-690. Requirements for Homeschooling Parents
(a) This subpart recognizes the existence of public schools, private schools, and home study programs as educational entities.
(b) As used in this subpart, the term "private school" means an institution meeting the following criteria or requirements:
(1) The primary purpose of the institution is to provide education or, if the primary purpose of the institution is religious in nature, the institution shall provide the basic academic educational program specified in paragraph (4) of this...
Roemhild v. Georgia (251 Ga. 569, 308 S.E.2d 154 (Ga. 1983))
This case concerns the constitutionality of OCGA 20-2-690 (Code Ann. 32-2104), the Georgia compulsory school attendance law, which provides that every parent having control of a child between the ages of seven and sixteen shall enroll the child in and send the child to a public or private school. The appellants, Terry and Vickie Roemhild, are the parents of three school-age children. In late September of 1981 they were arrested for violating the compulsory attendance law by allegedly failing to ...
Declaration of Intent to Utilize a Home Study Program - Word format
This is a Georgia Department of Education form. It is in Word format. Provided by HEIR.
Underage Youth Application for Program Enrollment and Permission to Take the GED
If you wish to withdraw from home school to obtain your GED, this is one of the required forms.
Homeschool Attorneys in Georgia
These attorneys have indicated that they are willing to provide legal information, consult with or represent homeschoolers on homeschooling or other legal issues they may have in their states. Most of these attorneys homeschool or have homeschooled their own children.
Declaration of Intent to Utilize a Home Study Program - gif format
This is a Georgia Department of Education form. This form is in gif format. Provided by HEIR. This is a scanned in copy and the quality is very poor.
Home Study Program Monthly Attendance Report - pdf format with reset button
Printable monthly attendance report provided by the Georgia Department of Education. This form has an enabled reset button to clear the form.
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Featured Resources
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