Homeschooling in Connecticut

Connecticut law sets no withdrawal form, notice, or deadline for a parent who leaves public school to give equivalent instruction. The State Department of Education (SDE) asks parents to contact the district's central office, learn how the district prefers to be told, and give notice of the intention to homeschool. That notice is guidance, not a legal filing.

A short signed letter to the superintendent's office does both jobs: it tells the district why your child stopped attending, and it ends the enrollment. You can start on any day of the year.

What the letter says

• Your child's full name, grade, and school
• That you are providing equivalent instruction at home under section 10-184
• The date homeschooling begins
• Your signature and the date

Before you go, ask the school for copies of report cards, test scores, and any special education evaluations. The in-person withdrawal forms in the attendance law are for students 18 and older who leave school and for 17-year-olds moving to adult education, not for homeschooling.

Connecticut law requires no homeschool records, and nothing is turned in. As best practice, the SDE suggests an attendance log of days and hours, and a portfolio for each child with samples of work, assessments, and a list of books and materials. Those suggestions are not in the statute.

A short record helps in three situations that ask what your child has learned:

• A question from the district about your homeschool
• Returning to a public school, where the district decides placement and whether to award any high school credit
• Applying to dual enrollment or college, which reads a transcript and a grade point average

The useful set is small: the subjects and main materials for each year, a few samples of work, any test scores, and, from ninth grade on, each course with its grade and credit.

Connecticut requires no tests of homeschoolers: no state assessment, no annual achievement test, and no evaluation or portfolio review. The SDE suggests including the results of any national assessments in a portfolio, but taking one is your choice.

Tests come up only when your child steps into a school or college system:

• GED: covered under high school.
• College admission: each college sets its own test requirements.

Every school district must find and evaluate children with disabilities who live in it, homeschooled children included (34 CFR 300.111). Connecticut law also directs each board of education to identify every child in its jurisdiction who needs special education. To start, ask the school district where you live, in writing, for an evaluation.

What happens next is less settled than in many states. State law says a district does not have to provide special education to a child whose parent has chosen to educate the child at home and refuses consent to those services. It requires that any services a district gives a private school child follow the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, but it does not say whether a homeschool counts as a private school for that purpose. Whether a district offers a homeschooled child equitable services, through a services plan paid from its federal share, is therefore a district decision.

Connecticut law gives homeschoolers no right to enroll part time in public school classes; each district decides.

Connecticut's high school graduation requirements apply to students of public schools. You decide what your child studies in high school and when it is complete, and you write your child's diploma and transcript.

The SDE does not accredit homeschools, and it neither recognizes credits nor credentials earned through homeschooling. A parent-issued diploma is a private record of completion, not a state diploma.

State diploma

The SDE names one route to an official Connecticut high school diploma for a homeschooled student: passing the GED test. The SDE's GED office handles test requirements and registration.

A homeschool graduate's record is two documents: the diploma you sign and a transcript that lists each course by year with its grade and credit.

Connecticut law sets no rule for admitting homeschool graduates to public colleges or universities. Each college decides what it accepts in place of a state diploma.

Connecticut State Community College lists homeschooled students among those eligible for dual enrollment from ninth grade. A student needs a high school grade point average of 2.0, a C average, or an equivalent; a counselor, administrator, teacher, or academic tutor may send a letter explaining a lower average. Admission does not by itself qualify a student for the tuition-free High School Partnership, which is for juniors and seniors with a 3.0 average in the top 20 percent of their class.

Homeschool dual enrollment in Connecticut

No Connecticut statute gives homeschooled students a right to try out for public school teams or requires a district to allow it. Interscholastic sports at Connecticut high schools run under the rules of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), the association of member schools, and those rules decide which students a member school may enter in competition.

Homeschool sports eligibility in Connecticut

Connecticut offers no homeschool tax credit, deduction, education savings account, or scholarship. Homeschool costs are paid by the family, and the state income tax has no line for them.

Dual enrollment is the one place where state funding can reach a homeschooler: courses through the High School Partnership are tuition and fee free for students who qualify, though the student pays for books.

Homeschool tax breaks and funding in Connecticut

A child can return to a Connecticut public school at any time; each district must provide school accommodations to children who live in it from age 5 until 21 who have not graduated. State law sets no placement rule for a returning homeschooler, so the district decides grade placement and may test to do it.

High school credit is the main limit. A district is not required to award graduation credit for work completed while homeschooling in grades 9 through 12, and a returning student is not guaranteed any. The SDE suggests aligning instruction with the Connecticut Core Standards for a smoother return, and a transcript with course descriptions gives the district something to review.

A district may ask how your child is being educated, often after a withdrawal. No statute sets the form of the question or the answer. The district's truancy procedures, including the meeting after four unexcused absences in a month, do not apply to a homeschooled child.

If a court finds that a parent did not comply with section 10-184, each day's failure is a separate offense with a fine of up to $25.