Testing Under Religious Exemption

Q. If I’m homechooling under religious exemption, do I send in test results?

A. If you are homeschooling because you have sincere religious convictions against sending your child to school, and you are under the religious exemption statute § 22.1-254 (B)(1), you are NOT required to submit test results or an evaluation to your division superintendent.

§ 22.1-254 (B)(1) states:

A school board shall excuse from attendance at school: any pupil who, together with his parents, by reason of bona fide religious training or belief is conscientiously opposed to attendance at school. For purposes of this subdivision, “bona fide religious training or belief” does not include essentially political, sociological or philosophical views or a merely personal moral code.

If you filed a Notice of Intent with your superintendent, you are required to send a copy of the test results or an evaluation by August 1 each year.

You can find an explanation of religious exemption–and the answers to other religious exemption questions–on the “Religious Exemption Demystified” page of the HEAV website.