SEA 567: Changes in Homeschool Exemption
SEA 567 was originally created to add regulations and guard rails to Virtual Education schools. Toward the end of the session, amendments were added which could potentially change the way students, who withdraw to homeschool during high school, could affect our school’s graduation rates. Below is IASP’s attempt to help clarify some of the questions surrounded the changes. The part of the legislation which applies here is located on page 16 of the final act. Here is the exact verbiage of the legislation:
(b) This subsection applies to a high school in which:
(1) for a:
(A) cohort of one hundred (100) students or less, at least ten percent (10%) of the students left a particular cohort for a reason described in subsection (a) STEP THREE clause (B); or
(B) cohort of more than one hundred (100) students, at least five percent (5%) of the students left a particular cohort for a reason described in subsection (a) STEP THREE clause (B); and
(2) the students described in subdivision (1)(A) or (1)(B) are not on track to graduate with their cohort.
A high school must submit a request to the state board in a manner prescribed by the state board requesting that the students described in this subsection be included in the subsection (a) STEP THREE calculation. The state board shall review the request and may grant or deny the request. The state board shall deny the request unless the high school demonstrates good cause to justify that the students described in this subsection should be included in the subsection (a) STEP THREE calculation. If the state board denies the request the high school may not subtract the students described in this subsection under subsection (a) STEP THREE.
In order to try to help understand the process, IASP has put together the following examples. This is based on IASP’s interpretation of the legislation. We would expect that in the near future, the Department of Education and/or the State Board of Education will provide more specific guidance.
| Cohort size | SEA 567 Threshold | N w/d to homeschool | N ‘not on track’ | N ‘on track’ | ^N returned to cohort/no longer mobile |
| 50 | 10% (5) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 50 | 10% (5) | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 50 | 10% (5) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 | 10% (10) | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| 100 | 10% (10) | 12 | 10 | 2 | 12 |
| 100 | 10% (10) | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| 160 | 5% (8) | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 160 | 5% (8) | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 160 | 5% (8) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 200 | 5% (10) | 15 | 9 | 6 | 0 |
| 200 | 5% (10) | 15 | 12 | 3 | 15 |
| 200 | 5% (10) | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
^Students will count as unknowns/dropouts
