Massachusetts Home Education: Information for Superintendents



Documents

Last updated August 8, 2002


Care and Protection of Charles (1987)

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that school committees may enforce certain reasonable educational requirements in the case of home education. The Court also cautioned superintendents and school committees that home school approvals must not be conditioned on requirements that are not essential to the State interest in ensuring that "all children shall be educated." The Court then issued some guidelines for approval of home education proposals.



Brunelle v. Lynn Public Schools (1998)

In this unanimous Supreme Judical Court Opinion, the Court ruled that home visits could not be mandated as a condition of approval of a home education plan. The decision also observed that "in certain important ways [home education] can never be the equivalent of in-school education." The Court ruled that any requirement made in evaluating home education proposals must be not only reasonable, but also essential.



In the Matter of Johnna M. Searles (1990)

In this District Court Opinion, the judge denied the request of school authorities that the child be ordered to enroll in school pending the approval of the home education program, stating such an order would be "premature at the present time." She stated that the interests of all parties "are best served if they proceed expeditiously in a serious effort to resolve the matter by agreement."



Care and Protection of Ivan & another (1999)



General Laws - relevant sections



Copyright 2001, 2002 by Massachusetts Home Learning Association and Massachusetts Homeschool Organization of Parent Educators. Pages may be freely copied provided that the following sentence is included with any citation: Information for Superintendents is provided by MHLA (mhla.org) and MassHOPE (masshope.org) and can be found in its entirety at either one of those sites.

August 2002 edition

The information on this website does not constitute legal advice; it is provided for informational purposes only.