|
Summary of Connecticut Statutes Text of Connecticut Statutes
Occasionally, public
school "authorities" tell parents that "state law
requires" that they "file a Notice of Intent" or
"obtain permission" or "follow local policy" in order
to homeschool. These same "authorities" may produce a portion of
a state statute and claim that it is the source of the
"requirement". Most often, it is not the correct source and the
"authorities" have either misunderstood or misinterpreted that
statute.
To clarify for all concerned
exactly what the "statutes" are that apply to parents who want to
educate their own children, we have listed the following information.
Summary of Connecticut's
Home Education Statutes
Connecticut General Statute §10-184. The duty of parents.
This statute imposes an obligation on all parents to instruct their own
children or to cause them to be instructed in certain subjects. If
parents do not undertake their obligation, the statute then requires
children between certain ages to attend public school or private
school. Because it is the obligation of all parents to instruct their
own children, they are not required to seek the approval of public school
administrators before doing so.
Connecticut General Statute §10-184a. This statute grants
parents of children taught at home or in private school the right to refuse
to accept special education services provided by the public school if the
parents do not believe that those services are appropriate for their
children.
Connecticut General Statute §10-184b. This statute ensures
that the Commissioner of Education will not waive the authority of parents
to instruct their children under Conn. Gen. Stat. §10-184.
Connecticut General Statute §10-220. This statute specifies
the jurisdictional authority of the local public school board of education.
Among other duties directly related to the public schools, the board of
education is required to implement “the educational interests of the
state”; to “give all the children of the school district as nearly equal
advantages as may be practicable”; to “make such provisions as will enable
each child of school age, residing in the district to attend some public
day school for the period required by law”; and to “cause each child five
years of age and over and under eighteen years of age who is not a high
school graduate and is living in the school district to attend school in
accordance with the provisions of section 10-184.” The duty of the
board of education regarding attendance of children is only applicable if
parents of these children are not undertaking their obligation to instruct
their children at home or to cause their children to be instructed in a
private school.
Connecticut General Statute §10-249. This statute imposes an obligation on local
boards of education to enumerate all the children in the public school district.
Connecticut General Statute §10-250. This statute requires
that, when asked by the local boards of education, parents provide the
names, ages, and location where the child is being educated to the local
boards of education.
Connecticut General Statute §10-251. This statute imposes a
penalty for those who fail to provide the name, age, and information about
attendance of a child when asked.
Connecticut General Statute §10-198a. This statute specifies
that children who are not enrolled in a public or private school but who
are being instructed by their parents in accordance with Conn. Gen. Statute
§10-184 shall not be considered truant.
Top of Page
Sec. 10-184. Duties of parents. School attendance age
requirements.
All parents and those who have the care of
children shall bring them up in some lawful and honest employment and
instruct them or cause them to be instructed in reading, writing, spelling,
English grammar, geography, arithmetic and United States history and in
citizenship, including a study of the town, state and federal governments.
Subject to the provisions of this section and section 10-15c, each parent
or other person having control of a child five years of age and over and
under eighteen years of age shall cause such child to attend a public
school regularly during the hours and terms the public school in the
district in which such child resides is in session, unless such child is a
high school graduate or the parent or person having control of such child
is able to show that the child is elsewhere receiving equivalent
instruction in the studies taught in the public schools. The parent or
person having control of a child sixteen or seventeen years of age may
consent, as provided in this section, to such child's withdrawal from
school. Such parent or person shall personally appear at the school
district office and sign a withdrawal form. The school district shall
provide such parent or person with information on the educational options
available in the school system and in the community. The parent or person
having control of a child five years of age shall have the option of not
sending the child to school until the child is six years of age and the
parent or person having control of a child six years of age shall have the
option of not sending the child to school until the child is seven years of
age. The parent or person shall exercise such option by personally
appearing at the school district office and signing an option form. The
school district shall provide the parent or person with information on the
educational opportunities available in the school system.
COMMENT: This
statute comprises both the state's "compulsory education law" and
the state's "compulsory attendance law". The first sentence of
the statute codifies the "compulsory education law". It simply
means that all children must be educated, and that it is the duty of all
parents in the state to educate their own children. Parents are required to
instruct their own children or cause them to be instructed in the subjects
listed. However, under the second sentence of this statute, should the
parents fail to undertake their obligation to instruct their own children,
and should their children be between certain ages, then and only then do the
parents become obligated to send those children to public school, unless
the parents are able to show that the children are receiving an equivalent
instruction elsewhere such as in a private school. This is the
"compulsory attendance" portion of the statute. In other words,
children of certain ages, whose parents are not undertaking their
obligation to instruct them, are required to "attend" a public
school unless they are already attending a private school. The remainder of
the statute also refers to compulsory “attendance”. That is, parents
of children age five or six, who are not going to undertake their
obligation to instruct their children, but, instead, who are going to send
them to a school in a year or two, are obligated under the final portion of
the statute to personally appear at the public school to sign an "opt
out" form. However, parents of a five or six year old child who are
going to undertake their obligation to instruct their own child, are NOT
obligated to appear or sign any "opt out" form.
Top of Page
Sec. 10-184a. Refusal of certain parents to consent to use of
special education programs or services.
The provisions of sections 10-76a to
10-76h, inclusive, shall not be construed to require any local, regional or
state board of education to provide special education programs or services
for any child whose parent or guardian has chosen to educate such child in
a home or private school in accordance with the provisions of section
10-184 and who refuses to consent to such programs or services.
Top
of Page
Sec. 10-184b. Waiver provisions not applicable to equivalent
instruction authority of parents.
Notwithstanding any provision of the
general statutes or public or special act granting the Commissioner of
Education the authority to waive provisions of the general statutes, the
Commissioner of Education shall not limit the authority of parents or
guardians to provide for equivalent instruction pursuant to section 10-184.
Top
of Page
Sec. 10-220. Duties of boards of education.
(a) Each local or regional board of
education shall maintain good public elementary and secondary schools,
implement the educational interests of the state as defined in section
10-4a and provide such other educational activities as in its judgment will
best serve the interests of the school district; provided any board of
education may secure such opportunities in another school district in
accordance with provisions of the general statutes and shall give all the
children of the school district as nearly equal advantages as may be
practicable; shall provide an appropriate learning environment for its
students which includes (1) adequate instructional books, supplies,
materials, equipment, staffing, facilities and technology, (2) equitable
allocation of resources among its schools, and (3) a safe school setting;
shall have charge of the schools of its respective school district; shall
make a continuing study of the need for school facilities and of a
long-term school building program and from time to time make
recommendations based on such study to the town; shall report annually to
the Commissioner of Education on the condition of its facilities and the
action taken to implement its long-term school building program, which
report the commissioner shall use to prepare an annual report that said
commissioner shall submit in accordance with section 11-4a to the joint
standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters
relating to education; shall advise the Commissioner of Education of the
relationship between any individual school building project pursuant to
chapter 173 and such long-term school building program; shall have the
care, maintenance and operation of buildings, lands, apparatus and other
property used for school purposes and at all times shall insure all such
buildings and all capital equipment contained therein against loss in an
amount not less than eighty per cent of replacement cost; shall determine
the number, age and qualifications of the pupils to be admitted into each
school; shall develop and implement a written plan for minority staff
recruitment for purposes of subdivision (3) of section 10-4a; shall employ
and dismiss the teachers of the schools of such district subject to the
provisions of sections 10-151 and 10-158a; shall designate the schools
which shall be attended by the various children within the school district;
shall make such provisions as will enable each child of school age,
residing in the district to attend some public day school for the period
required by law and provide for the transportation of children wherever
transportation is reasonable and desirable, and for such purpose may make
contracts covering periods of not more than five years; may place in an
alternative school program or other suitable educational program a pupil
enrolling in school who is nineteen years of age or older and cannot
acquire a sufficient number of credits for graduation by age twenty-one;
may arrange with the board of education of an adjacent town for the
instruction therein of such children as can attend school in such adjacent
town more conveniently; shall cause each child five years of age and over and
under eighteen years of age who is not a high school graduate and is living
in the school district to attend school in accordance with the provisions
of section 10-184, and shall perform all acts required of it by the town or
necessary to carry into effect the powers and duties imposed by law.
(b) The board of education of each local
or regional school district shall, with the participation of parents,
students, school administrators, teachers, citizens, local elected
officials and any other individuals or groups such board shall deem
appropriate, prepare a statement of educational goals for such local or
regional school district. The statement of goals shall be consistent with
state-wide goals pursuant to subsection (c) of section 10-4. Each local or
regional board of education shall develop student objectives which relate
directly to the statement of educational goals prepared pursuant to this
subsection and which identify specific expectations for students in terms
of skills, knowledge and competence.
(c) Annually, each local and regional
board of education shall submit to the Commissioner of Education a
strategic school profile report for each school under its jurisdiction and
for the school district as a whole. The superintendent of each local and
regional school district shall present the profile report at the next
regularly scheduled public meeting of the board of education after each
November first. The profile report shall provide information on measures of
(1) student needs, (2) school resources, including technological resources
and utilization of such resources and infrastructure, (3) student and
school performance, (4) equitable allocation of resources among its
schools, (5) reduction of racial, ethnic and economic isolation, and (6) special
education. For purposes of this subsection, measures of special education
include (A) special education identification rates by disability, (B) rates
at which special education students are exempted from mastery testing
pursuant to section 10-14q, (C) expenditures for special education,
including such expenditures as a percentage of total expenditures, (D)
achievement data for special education students, (E) rates at which
students identified as requiring special education are no longer identified
as requiring special education, (F) the availability of supplemental
educational services for students lacking basic educational skills, (G) the
amount of special education student instructional time with nondisabled
peers, (H) the number of students placed out-of-district, and (I) the
actions taken by the school district to improve special education programs,
as indicated by analyses of the local data provided in subparagraphs (A) to
(H), inclusive, of this subdivision.
Top
of Page
Sec. 10-249. Enumeration of children of compulsory school age
in school districts and by state departments having jurisdiction over such
children.
(a) The board of education of each local
and regional school district shall annually determine by age the number of
children of compulsory school age who reside within the jurisdiction of
such school district as of January first of each year. Such determination
shall be made by (1) enumeration of each such child individually or (2) any
reasonable means of accounting approved by the Commissioner of Education.
(b) If any child of compulsory school age
is not attending school within the jurisdiction of the board of education
of a local or regional school district, the superintendent of schools of
the district shall make a reasonable effort to ascertain the reason for
such nonattendance. If such child is employed at labor, the superintendent
of schools shall make a reasonable effort to ascertain the name and address
of such child's employer or of the establishment where such child is
employed. Returns shall be made to the board of education on or before the
fifteenth day of May. Any state, local or other public agency shall, upon
request by the superintendent of schools, provide such information as may
be reasonably required for the purposes of this section.
(c) Each state department shall report
periodically to the Commissioner of Education at such time and in such
manner as he shall prescribe, the name and address of the most recent
residence within the state for each child of compulsory school age under
the jurisdiction of such department. The commissioner shall provide such
information to the superintendent of schools of the local or regional
school district wherein such child is indicated to have most recently
resided.
COMMENT: In other words, it is an affirmative obligation
on the part of the local board of education each year to “enumerate” the
children “of compulsory school age” who reside in their district.
Parents do not need to offer the information to the board, if the board
does not request it. However, under Conn. Gen. Stat. §10-251, parents
are obligated to provide the name and age of the child and information
about the school attendance of the child, if the board does request that
information.
Top
of Page
Sec. 10-250. Report showing number of children.
Annually, not later than June fifteenth,
the superintendent of schools for each local or regional school district
shall file with the Commissioner of Education a report, on a form
prescribed by said commissioner, showing the number of children of
compulsory school age residing within the jurisdiction of such school
district determined in accordance with the provisions of section 10-249 and
such other information as said commissioner requires.
Top of Page
Sec. 10-251. Penalty for refusing to give age of child.
Any person having control of a child under
twenty-one years of age who willfully refuses to give the name and age of
such child, and such information concerning the school attendance of such
child as this chapter requires, shall be fined not more than twenty-five
dollars.
Sec. 10-198a. Policies and procedures concerning truants.
(a) For purposes of this section,
"truant" means a child age five to eighteen, inclusive, who is
enrolled in a public or private school and has four unexcused absences from
school in any one month or ten unexcused absences from school in any school
year.
(b) Each local and regional board of
education shall adopt and implement policies and procedures concerning
truants who are enrolled in schools under the jurisdiction of such board of
education. Such policies and procedures shall include, but need not be
limited to, the following: (1) The holding of a meeting with the parent of
each child who is a truant, or other person having control of such child,
and appropriate school personnel to review and evaluate the reasons for the
child being a truant, provided such meeting shall be held not later than
ten school days after the child's fourth unexcused absence in a month or
tenth unexcused absence in a school year, (2) coordinating services with
and referrals of children to community agencies providing child and family
services, (3) annually at the beginning of the school year and upon any
enrollment during the school year, notifying the parent or other person
having control of each child enrolled in a grade from kindergarten to
eight, inclusive, in the public schools in writing of the obligations of
the parent or such other person pursuant to section 10-184, (4) annually at
the beginning of the school year and upon any enrollment during the school
year, obtaining from the parent or other person having control of each
child in a grade from kindergarten to eight, inclusive, a telephone number
or other means of contacting such parent or such other person during the
school day and (5) a system of monitoring individual unexcused absences of
children in grades kindergarten to eight, inclusive, which shall provide
that whenever a child enrolled in school in any such grade fails to report
to school on a regularly scheduled school day and no indication has been
received by school personnel that the child's parent or other person having
control of the child is aware of the pupil's absence, a reasonable effort
to notify, by telephone, the parent or such other person shall be made by
school personnel or volunteers under the direction of school personnel. Any
person who, in good faith, gives or fails to give notice pursuant to
subdivision (5) of this subsection shall be immune from any liability,
civil or criminal, which might otherwise be incurred or imposed and shall
have the same immunity with respect to any judicial proceeding which
results from such notice or failure to give such notice.
(c) If the parent or other person having
control of a child who is a truant fails to attend the meeting held
pursuant to subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section or if such
parent or other person otherwise fails to cooperate with the school in
attempting to solve the truancy problem, such policies and procedures shall
require the superintendent of schools to file for each such truant enrolled
in the schools under his jurisdiction a written complaint with the Superior
Court pursuant to section 46b-149 alleging the belief that the acts or
omissions of the child are such that his family is a family with service
needs.
(d) Nothing in subsections (a) to (c),
inclusive, of this section shall preclude a local or regional board of
education from adopting policies and procedures pursuant to this section
which exceed the requirements of said subsections.
(e) The provisions of this section shall
not apply to any child receiving equivalent instruction pursuant to section
10-184.
COMMENT: This statute clearly specifies that only
children who are ENROLLED in a public or in a private school and who have
the specified number of absences may be considered truant. Children
who are being instructed at home by their parent may not be considered
truant.
Top
of Page
Sec. 10-198. False statement as to age.
Any parent or other person having control
of a child, who makes any false statement concerning the age of such child
with intent to deceive any registrar of vital statistics or the teacher of
any school, or instructs a child to make any such false statement, shall be
fined not more than twenty dollars.
Top
of Page
In the future, NHELD, LLC
hopes to provide a complete listing for all states. Please have patience
with us while we develop a more complete listing. If you would like
to assist us in compiling this listing, please contact us.
|
