The parent wrote a letter explaining that the law allows homeschoolers to use an alternative academic assessment and enclosed a copy of the law with the assessment passage highlighted. The county BOE office did not respond to the letter, and the parent has heard nothing more about the matter.

Monongalia County – In late July, several homeschoolers received a letter from the county Board in response to their notices of intent. The letter asked the recipients to complete some enclosed forms so that their “application” to homeschool could be “approved.” In at least some cases, parents were asked to disclose how they planned to assess their children.

The county was using forms WVHEA had included in an information packet to county boards after adoption of law revisions in 2003, intended to be used by them to "help you streamline homeschool administration." WVHEA had clearly stated, "Please note: the law does not require use of any form."

A parent in the county called the letter's author (a secretary at the county BOE who recently had been placed in charge of homeschool recordkeeping) and was told that the office was simply trying to standardize its records by asking homeschoolers to fill out the forms. The parent was assured that the intent was not to upset homeschoolers and that choosing a particular type of assessment was not a binding commitment, just an acknowledgement that an annual assessment was required.

The following day, several parents reported receiving another letter from the county, asking them to disregard the previous letter. This is a good example of how a polite call can quickly resolve a misunderstanding by county personnel and make them better informed about what the law requires.

Some county offices confuse the old section of the law, 18-8-1(c) subdivision 1, which does allow counties to "approve" homeschooling programs and request information at their discretion, and 18-8-1(c) subdivision 2, which requires notification, submission of a plan of instruction and verification of parent education, and an annual assessment. The law does not require homeschoolers filing under the notice of intent option to inform the county in advance of the type of assessment they will use (One exception: if you wish to test in the public school, notify the county and the school early in the school year to make sure they have enough tests. See Annual Assessment – Public School Testing program).  

Monongalia County – The school board office distributes the WVHEA notice of intent form and other forms from the homeschool packet WVHEA sent to county superintendent offices last spring.