22-33-104.5. Home-based education - legislative declaration -
definitions - guidelines.
(1) The general assembly hereby declares
that it is the primary right and obligation
of the parent to choose the proper
education
and training for children under his
care
and supervision. It is recognized that
home-based
education is a legitimate alternative
to
classroom attendance for the instruction
of children and that any regulation
of nonpublic
home-based educational programs should
be
sufficiently flexible to accommodate
a variety
of circumstances. The general assembly
further
declares that nonpublic home-based
educational
programs shall be subject only to minimum
state controls which are currently
applicable
to other forms of nonpublic education.
(2) As used in this section:
(a) "Nonpublic home-based educational
program" means the sequential
program
of instruction for the education of
a child
which takes place in a home, which
is provided
by the child's parent or by an adult
relative
of the child designated by the parent,
and
which is not under the supervision
and control
of a school district. This educational
program
is not intended to be and does not
qualify
as a private and nonprofit school.
(b) "Parent" includes a parent
or guardian.
(c) "Qualified person" means
an
individual who is selected by the parent
of a child who is participating in
a nonpublic
home-based educational program to evaluate
such child's progress and who is a
teacher
licensed pursuant to article 60.5 of
this
title, a teacher who is employed by
an independent
or parochial school, a licensed psychologist,
or a person with a graduate degree
in education.
(3) The following guidelines shall
apply
to a nonpublic home-based educational
program:
(a) A parent or an adult relative designated
by a parent to provide instruction
in a nonpublic
home-based educational program shall
not
be subject to the requirements of the
"Colorado
Educator Licensing Act of 1991",
article
60.5 of this title, nor to the provisions
of article 61 of this title relating
to teacher
employment.
(b) A child who is participating in
a nonpublic
home-based educational program shall
not
be subject to compulsory school attendance
as provided in this article; except
that
any child who is habitually truant,
as defined
in section 22-33-107 (3), at any time
during
the last six months that the child
attended
school before proposed enrollment in
a nonpublic
home-based educational program may
not be
enrolled in the program unless the
child's
parents first submit a written description
of the curricula to be used in the
program
along with the written notification
of establishment
of the program required in paragraph
(e)
of this subsection (3) to any school
district
within the state.
(c) A nonpublic home-based educational
program
shall include no less than one hundred
seventy-two
days of instruction, averaging four
instructional
contact hours per day.
(d) A nonpublic home-based educational
program
shall include, but need not be limited
to,
communication skills of reading, writing,
and speaking, mathematics, history,
civics,
literature, science, and regular courses
of instruction in the constitution
of the
United States as provided in section
22-1-108.
(e) Any parent establishing a nonpublic
home-based
educational program shall provide written
notification of the establishment of
said
program to a school district within
the state
fourteen days prior to the establishment
of said program and each year thereafter
if the program is maintained. The parent
in charge and in control of a nonpublic
home-based
educational program shall certify,
in writing,
only a statement containing the name,
age,
place of residence, and number of hours
of
attendance of each child enrolled in
said
program.
(f) Each child participating in a nonpublic
home-based educational program shall
be evaluated
when such child reaches grades three,
five,
seven, nine, and eleven. Each child
shall
be given a nationally standardized
achievement
test to evaluate the child's academic
progress,
or a qualified person shall evaluate
the
child's academic progress. The test
or evaluation
results, whichever is appropriate,
shall
be submitted to the school district
that
received the notification required
by paragraph
(e) of this subsection (3) or an independent
or parochial school within the state
of Colorado.
If the test or evaluation results are
submitted
to an independent or parochial school,
the
name of such school shall be provided
to
the school district that received the
notification
required by paragraph (e) of this subsection
(3). The purpose of such tests or evaluations
shall be to evaluate the educational
progress
of each child. No scores for a child
participating
in a nonpublic home-based educational
program
shall be considered for awarding academic
performance ratings pursuant to section
22-7-604
or for accreditation pursuant to article
11 of this title.
(g) The records of each child participating
in a nonpublic home-based educational
program
shall be maintained on a permanent
basis
by the parent in charge and in control
of
said program. The records shall include,
but need not be limited to, attendance
data,
test and evaluation results, and immunization
records, as required by sections 25-4-901,
25-4-902, and 25-4-903, C.R.S. Such
records
shall be produced to the school district
that received the notification required
by
paragraph (e) of this subsection (3)
upon
fourteen days' written notice if the
superintendent
of said school district has probable
cause
to believe that said program is not
in compliance
with the guidelines established in
this subsection
(3).
(4) Any child who has participated
in a nonpublic
home-based educational program and
who subsequently
enrolls in the public school system
may be
tested by the school district in which
the
child has enrolled for the purpose
of placing
the child in the proper grade and shall
then
be placed at the grade level deemed
most
appropriate by said school district,
with
the consent of the child's parent or
legal
guardian. The school district shall
accept
the transcripts for credit from the
non-public
home-based educational program for
any such
child; except that the school district
may
reject such transcripts if the school
district
administers testing to such child and
the
testing does not verify the accuracy
of such
transcripts.
(5) (a) (I) If test results submitted
to
the appropriate school district pursuant
to the provisions of paragraph (f)
of subsection
(3) of this section show that a child
participating
in a nonpublic home-based educational
program
received a composite score on said
test which
was above the thirteenth percentile,
such
child shall continue to be exempt from
the
compulsory school attendance requirement
of this article. If the child's composite
score on said test is at or below the
thirteenth
percentile, the school district shall
require
the parents to place said child in
a public
or independent or parochial school
until
the next testing period; except that
no action
shall be taken until the child is given
the
opportunity to be retested using an
alternate
version of the same test or a different
nationally
standardized achievement test selected
by
the parent from a list of approved
tests
supplied by the state board.
(II) If evaluation results submitted
to the
appropriate school district pursuant
to the
provisions of paragraph (f) of subsection
(3) of this section show that the child
is
making sufficient academic progress
according
to the child's ability, the child will
continue
to be exempt from the compulsory school
attendance
requirement of this article. If the
evaluation
results show that the child is not
making
sufficient academic progress, the school
district shall require the child's
parents
to place the child in a public or independent
or parochial school until the next
testing
period.
(b) If the child's test or evaluation
results
are submitted to an independent or
parochial
school, said school shall notify the
school
district that received the notification
pursuant
to paragraph (e) of subsection (3)
of this
section if the composite score on said
test
was at or below the thirteenth percentile
or if the evaluation results show that
the
child is not making sufficient academic
progress.
The school district shall then require
the
parents to proceed in the manner specified
in paragraph (a) of this subsection
(5).
(6) (a) If a child is participating
in a
nonpublic home-based educational program
but also attending a public school
for a
portion of the school day, the school
district
of the public school shall be entitled
to
count such child in accordance with
the provisions
of section 22-54-103 (10) for purposes
of
determining pupil enrollment under
the "Public
School Finance Act of 1994", article
54 of this title.
(b) (I) For purposes of this subsection
(6),
a child who is participating in a nonpublic
home-based educational program shall
have
the same rights as a student enrolled
in
a public school of the school district
in
which the child resides or is enrolled
and
may participate on an equal basis in
any
extracurricular or interscholastic
activity
offered by a public school or offered
by
a private school, at the private school's
discretion, as provided in section
22-32-116.5
and is subject to the same rules of
any interscholastic
organization or association of which
the
student's school of participation is
a member.
(II) (A) Except as provided for in
sub-subparagraph
(B) of this subparagraph (II), for
purposes
of section 22-32-116.5, the school
district
of attendance for a child who is participating
in a nonpublic home-based educational
program
shall be deemed to be the school district
that received the notification pursuant
to
paragraph (e) of subsection (3) of
this section.
(B) For purposes of section 22-32-116.5,
the school district of attendance for
a child
who withdraws from a public or private
school
more than fifteen days after the start
of
the school year and enters a non-public
home-based
educational program shall be the school
district
or private school from which the child
withdrew
for the remainder of that school year.
If,
during the remainder of that academic
year,
the child chooses to participate in
extracurricular
or interscholastic activities at the
same
school and was eligible for participation
prior to withdrawing from the school,
the
child remains eligible to participate
at
such school.
(c) No child participating in an extracurricular
or interscholastic activity pursuant
to paragraph
(b) of this subsection (6) shall be
considered
attending the public school district
where
the child participates in such activity
for
purposes of determining pupil enrollment
under paragraph (a) of this subsection
(6).
(d) As used in this subsection (6),
"extracurricular
or interscholastic activities"
shall
have the same meaning as "activity"
as set forth in section 22-32-116.5
(10).
(e) If any fee is collected pursuant
to this
subsection (6) for participation in
an activity,
the fee shall be used to fund the particular
activity for which it is charged and
shall
not be expended for any other purpose.
Source: L. 88: Entire section added,
p. 766,
§ 1, effective July 1; (6) amended,
p. 812,
§ 12, effective May 24. L. 93: (6)
amended,
p. 457, § 2, effective April 19. L.
94: (2)(c)
added and (3)(e), (3)(f), and (5) amended,
p. 618, § § 1, 2, effective April 14;
(3)(b),
IP(6)(b), (6)(b)(II), and (6)(b)(V)
amended,
p. 677, § 2, effective April 19; (6)(a)
amended,
p. 813, § 29, effective April 27; (6)(e)
added, p. 1283, § 8, effective May
22; (6)(b)
and (6)(b)(V) amended and (6)(f) added,
p.
2837, § 2, effective June 7. L. 96:
(6)(b)
and (6)(d) amended, p. 1022, § 2, effective
May 23. L. 2000: (3)(b), (3)(e), (3)(f),
(3)(g), (4), (5), (6)(a), and (6)(b)
amended,
p. 369, § 22, effective April 10; (2)(c)
and (3)(a) amended, p. 1857, § 61,
effective
August 2. L. 2001: (3)(b), (3)(f),
(4), and
(6)(b)(I) amended, p. 1494, § 17, effective
June 8. Editor's note: Section 22-33-104.5
(6)(d) as enacted by section 7 of chapter
154, Session Laws of Colorado 1994,
was subsequently
repealed by section 6 of chapter 224,
resulting
in the relettering of the remaining
provisions
of subsection (6), as enacted by chapters
224 and 351. Cross references: For
further
provisions concerning student participation
in interscholastic activities in a
school
in which they do not attend, see §
22-32-116.5.
Am. Jur.2d. See 68 Am. Jur.2d, Schools,
§
§ 259-262, 379.
C.J.S. See 78A C.J.S., Schools and
School
Districts, § 738.
This portion of Colorado Revised Statutes,
reprinted with the permission of the
Committee on Legal Services in accordance
with section 2-5-118, C.R.S. is an
unofficial publication of Colorado Revised
Statutes.
