Homeschooling in Louisiana

A school cannot refuse to let you withdraw your child, and you may withdraw before LDOE approves your application. LDOE suggests applying before you withdraw. The 15-day deadline runs from the first day of the program, so a mid-year start works the same way as a fall start.

After you apply

• LDOE emails a confirmation when you submit, and reviews take up to 14 business days.
• BESE notifies your parish or city school superintendent of the application and of its decision, and districts receive a monthly copy of their home study approval letters.
• When the approval letter arrives, LDOE suggests giving a copy to the school your child attended.

A child of compulsory age who is in neither a school nor an approved program puts the parents in violation of the compulsory attendance law, so apply on time. A paper application is allowed only when you cannot use the online system, and mail can take two weeks.

On the other route, the nonpublic school sends the former public school a written notice of enrollment within 10 days, which may include a request for the transcript.

Louisiana sets no record-keeping rule for home study, but the renewal is built on records. The first evidence option is a packet: an outline of the subjects taught, a list of books and materials, one or two pages of work per core subject, a third party's statement about your child's progress, and any report card or test scores. The second is a qualifying test score, described under testing. The third is a statement from a teacher certified at your child's grade that the program meets the public school standard. If a packet falls short, LDOE tells you what is missing and asks for more.

Keep each year's approval letter. It is the proof the Office of Motor Vehicles accepts for a learner's permit or license, and the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA) uses the letters for grades 9 through 12 to process TOPS.

A high school transcript listing each course with its grade and credit also helps when your child enters a school system, which may ask for any records it requires.

On the nonpublic route, the school keeps attendance records, and its yearly attendance submission confirmation serves as the license document.

Home study requires no state test. Tests come in only if you use them for renewal: your child can score at or above grade level, or show a year of progress for each year in home study, on a standardized test such as LEAP, iLEAP, an end-of-course exam, the ACT or SAT, the California Achievement Test, the Stanford, or the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.

Taking state tests

You may schedule state tests in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies at your child's enrolled grade through the local school board's testing administrator. Arrange it in early January. The fee is up to $35, and it is refunded if your child tests to enter the public school system and enrolls the next semester. Students on the nonpublic route may request only the 4th and 8th grade LEAP.

TOPS uses ACT or Classic Learning Test (CLT) scores, explained under college.

Every school district must find and evaluate children with disabilities who live in it, homeschooled children included (34 CFR 300.111).

BESE policy, adopted in 1984 and revised in 2002, says students in approved home study do not qualify for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or for accommodations under Section 504. LDOE gives the same answer for the nonpublic route. LDOE advises parents of children with exceptionalities to ask the local school system about the free appropriate public education services available before starting home study, because leaving the public school gives up those services.

One renewal option fits a child with a disability: a certified teacher may state that the program is at least equal to what public schools offer children with similar disabilities.

Textbooks

With your approval letter, you may borrow one set of state-approved textbooks per child from the local public school or school board office if copies are available. The district may charge a refundable deposit.

Louisiana's graduation requirements apply to public and approved private schools. In home study, you set the courses and create and issue the diploma; BESE and LDOE do not award it, and the diploma may not use state seals or wording that implies it came from them. LDOE publishes a sample diploma template.

State law gives a diploma from an approved home study program all the rights and privileges of a diploma from a state-approved nonpublic school, before every public college and every state and local agency. A diploma from a nonpublic school not seeking approval does not carry that weight.

Equivalency diploma

A home study student does not need the HiSET to graduate. A student older than 16 and younger than 18 who wants to leave home study for the HiSET needs an age waiver approved by the local school district before enrolling in an adult education program approved by the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.

Driver's licenses

A home study student shows the Office of Motor Vehicles the official approval letter as proof of school attendance. A student on the nonpublic route brings the attendance submission confirmation letter and a signed Certification of School Attendance form.

Each college applies its own admission standards to a home study graduate, including any ACT subscore minimums.

TOPS

A student in approved home study for grade 12, and for grade 11 if applicable, can qualify for the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) with these scores:

• TOPS Tech: ACT 17 or CLT 54
• TOPS Opportunity: ACT 20 or CLT 66
• TOPS Performance: ACT 23 or CLT 80
• TOPS Honors: ACT 27 or CLT 91
• TOPS Excellence: ACT 31 or CLT 101

Apply in grade 12 through the TOPS Online Application or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, marking that your child was home schooled. Any public or private high school attended in grades 9 or 10 must send a letter giving the dates and whether your child left in good standing. All documents are due by January 15 after the first anniversary of graduation. Students on the nonpublic route are not eligible.

For college courses in high school, a home study student applies to the college directly under its admission and placement rules.

Homeschool dual enrollment in Louisiana

A public school may not disqualify a student from extracurricular activities or interscholastic athletics only because the student is in approved home study, as long as the student lives in the school's attendance zone. The student tries out or applies in the same manner, time, and place as enrolled students.

A home study student who makes a team must meet every requirement an enrolled student meets, including any minimum grade point average and the disciplinary standards, and can be removed for failing them. No public school may belong to an athletic association that denies eligibility only because a student is in approved home study. Students on the nonpublic school route are not covered.

Homeschool sports eligibility in Louisiana

A family in BESE-approved home study can deduct 50 percent of what it paid for textbooks and curricula necessary for homeschooling, up to $6,000 per dependent child, on Schedule E of the Louisiana resident income tax return. Kindergarten through grade 12 qualifies; prekindergarten does not, and extracurricular fees do not count. Keep the receipts.

No state funding goes to home study families, and a student in approved home study or a nonpublic school not seeking approval cannot take part in the LA GATOR Scholarship Program.

Homeschool tax breaks and funding in Louisiana

Each public school system must include in its Pupil Progression Plan a written policy for admitting or readmitting home study students; the child welfare and attendance supervisor at the school board office has it. You provide whatever documentation the system requires.

The receiving school, public or private, must test or evaluate your child to set the grade level or the Carnegie credits awarded in high school. LDOE does not give an opinion on your child's grade or achievement level. A private school sets its own admission procedure.

If a school or attendance office asks about your child, a copy of this year's BESE approval answers it.

BESE decides renewals: after LDOE has asked for any missing materials, BESE approves or disapproves the renewal on all the information submitted. A child whose approval lapses and who is not enrolled elsewhere falls under the compulsory attendance law, so renewing on time keeps the program in good standing.