Homeschooling in Massachusetts

Massachusetts was the first state in the United States to pass a compulsory education attendance law, in 1852. Two centuries before that law was passed, however, the Puritans established laws concerning schooling, schools, and the size of towns; a teacher, or even a grammar school, was required to be erected in towns over a certain number of families.

While Massachusetts has a long history of providing top-quality education in the public and private sphere, and the state contains a number of world-class universities and colleges, homeschooling in Massachusetts is a complex process.

According to Massachusetts case law, there is no state oversight, no single state law, concerning homeschooling. Unlike its neighbors Vermont and New Hampshire, for instance, Massachusetts does not have a state law that aplies across the board, and that is the same across different districts. Instead, homeschoolers in Massachusetts report to their home district; each superintendent sets homeschool policy for his or her district. The policy must follow court case law, however. For instance, a 1987 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision, Care and Protection of Charles, states clearly what superintendents and school committees can and cannot do, and states that homeschoolers cannot be held to a higher standard that private schools or public schools.

Other major court cases, such as Brunelle in 1998, state that superintendents cannot require daily or weekly schedules. Care and Protection of Ivan, decided a year later, tackles the issue of what superintendents and districts can do when a parent willfully refuses to follow case law, refusing to give evaluations showing the child's progress, for instance. Ivan determined that school officials cannot make visits to the child's home be a condition for approval for homeschooling.

In essence, Massachusetts homeschoolers must submit a proposal at the beginning of the school year, listing the teachers who will teach the child, the subjects to be taught, the fact that the child will be taught a minimum of 180 school days and 900 hours per year for elementary/990 for high school, and stating the once-a-year form of evaluation (testing, portfolio, written narrative progress report, etc.) to be submitted in June. By law the superintendent can request to see homeschoolers' curricula, so many homeschoolers choose to add the names of materials to their proposals, though this is not required.

In recent years, administrators in towns across Massachusetts have been interpreting homeschooling case law and requiring many items (multiple forms of evaluation, twice-a-year evaluations, refusing to allow students with IEPs to be homeschooled) that fall outside the scope of case law. In some cases, policies are interpreted in a tighter way by new administrators, causing friction in the community between homeschoolers and district officials.

Massachusetts' homeschooling policy, with its district focus, is unique in the U.S. As homeschooling continues to grow at a rate of 10-15% per year, homeschool law will be under increasing focus by education professionals, parents, and the government.