Moving to a New County

Q. Although we provided test results and then notified that we were moving to another county, our previous superintendent has requested a copy of the “approval” letter from the new superintendent in order to confirm my child is being homeschooled. Does the law require this?

A. No, the law actually prohibits sharing this type of information. According to the new homeschool privacy law, §22.1-254.1 (G), initiated by HEAV (effective July 1, 2015), a superintendent CANNOT disclose any information outside the school division that is provided by the parent or student to satisfy the homeschool requirements, i.e. Notice of Intent or religious exemption information.

A superintendent is only allowed to annually report the numbers of homeschoolers in his district to the Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction. No other information can be shared with the state, another superintendent, or any other person or entity.

Since you have now relocated, all correspondence—such as your Notice of Intent and assessment results–should be sent to the new superintendent. The previous superintendent has no authority to request information from families who no longer reside in his district.

Regards,

Yvonne