|
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.
|
