Call To Action – NYSED Discontinues Special Services For Homeschoolers

Please Read – Important Changes Have Taken Place that Require Your Prompt Action

As of January, 2008, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) eliminated special services for all homeschooled children with special needs. This abrupt change in policy was made without warning or public comment. It reversed a policy of 17+ years of New York providing special services to homeschoolers on nearly the same basis as public school students who receive them. These services include things like physical therapy, speech therapy, and many other services that enable learning and acquisition of skills needed for eventually achieving maximum independence and self-sufficiency as adults. Hundreds of homeschooled students with special needs are affected by this change. It will have devastating long-term consequences for both these children and their parents.

This policy change has its roots in a recent lawsuit in which some legal technicalities in Federal law on this subject, previously unknown to NYSED, were revealed. Stated briefly, Federal law only requires the State to provide services to non-public school students if they are classified as private school students. New York law does not classify home schools students as private schools; homeschooled students are allowed under State law which describes them as attending elsewhere. NYSED seized upon the outcome of this lawsuit and now mistakenly understands Federal law as meaning that New York is not authorized to provide services to homeschoolers. (Not authorized would be another way of saying that New York is prohibited by Federal law from providing such services.) However, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which has been aware of this specific legal issue for a number of years, believes that the correct interpretation is that Federal law simply does not require the State to provide these services. States can still provide them if they so choose. (It may well be that the State is not authorized to spend federal funds on providing these services to homeschoolers, but federal funds make up well less than 10% of the money that the State spends on special services.)

During a recent three-day strategy session to address this issue, the NYS LEAH Board and HSLDA thoroughly discussed the intricacies of the situation. In response, we have formulated a plan of action to make sure that this action does not go unchallenged and to persuade NYSED to reverse their unwise policy change. ALL homeschool families are being asked to participate in this very important plan, regardless of whether you have special needs children or not.

Please take the time to read Why Special Services For Homeschoolers? which discuses why it is so very important that this policy change be reversed. It discusses why it is reasonable for homeschoolers to receive government services in this area, and why this action represents a very real threat to all homeschoolers in New York.

The Plan of Action

1. Each member of the New York Board of Regents (which controls all educational policy in New York) and key officials in NYSED as well as in the legislature has received a letter from HSLDA carefully informing them of the correct interpretation of Federal law, i.e. the “not authorized” language is overreaching and incorrect, and that New York can provide these services as it so chooses. This is an important step in challenging the perception that New York would be violating Federal law if they were to provide special services to homeschoolers. Otherwise, the Regents and others can simply say it’s out of their hands. This is not true.

2. Each homeschool family in New York (indeed all New York families because this is an important public policy issue and has ramifications beyond education) is asked to immediately write to the Board of Regents, key NYSED officials, and their legislators. If you wish to use them, we are including some sample letters. These are samples only! Please re-write them and express the ideas they contain in your own words and with your own passion. Feel free to include your own perspective, or other perspectives such as those found in Why Special Services For Homeschoolers? Also please enlist your non-homeschooling friends and neighbors in this effort because this public policy issue goes beyond homeschooling. More about writing in a second…

3. Remember to earnestly pray about this issue. A LEAH Chapter leader told me that she was calling her entire chapter to fasting and prayer. Without God’s blessing and guidance, there will be no success. A paradox to contemplate: someone has suggested that we should pray as if everything depended upon God, and then get up off our knees and act as if everything depended upon us. Remember Proverbs 21:1: “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.”

While it is not practical for most people to write to everybody on the list, it is suggested that over a two week period, each family write four (4) letters. First, write to the Regent identified for your county. (Click on the hyperlinks for names and addresses.) Second, write to your State Senator and to your State Assemblyperson. Finally, write to one of the NYSED officials listed. For those families not able to write four letters, do what you can, but do something. For those families able to do more, write to another Regent, write the Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Education Committees, write the Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly. They can be found here. If you are able to do even more, keep on writing!

Political professionals tell us that the most effective communication (after a personal visit) comes by writing the good-old fashioned letter. A phone call is the next most effective form, followed last in effectiveness by an email. But again, please do what you can, but do something in the effort to reverse this policy change.

If you are a special-needs family, it is especially important that you write and tell the story of how this change potentially impacts you. Nobody knows the reality of special needs like you know them. It is particularly important that you enlist friends and family to also write supporting letters. They can also tell the story of what they know firsthand from your situation. If your special-needs child is old enough and has the capability to write or help write a letter, this would be a powerfully effective way of helping our officials understand the human impact of this change.

Desired Outcomes

What are the desire outcomes of our actions? Specifically, what do we hope to achieve from our efforts? There are several steps to achieving our objective of getting this policy change reversed. In addition, we have an over-arching objective which makes this a critical issue to all homeschoolers.

1. By having HSLDA send a letter to the Regents and others informing them of the correct legal interpretation of Federal law, we want them to start questioning the accuracy of their own legal counsel within NYSED that mistakenly believes that New York is prohibited from spending its own state funds on providing special services to homeschoolers.

2. By having homeschool families write to the Board of Regents and to key NYSED officials, we want to help these officials understand the impact of their change and persuade them to reverse this policy it to the way it has been. In case they feel they lack the legal authority to do this (and this may be the case), we want them to assist us in asking the legislature to make the required changes in state law.

3. By having homeschool families write to their legislators, we want to help the New York legislature to understand the issue and also to put pressure on the Regents to reverse the policy. We also want to prepare the legislature for the possibility that they may need to change the law if and when the Regents and/or NYSED requests it.

4. Finally, of critical importance to all homeschoolers in New York, we want our officials to understand that they can’t make sudden, abrupt changes in policy without public hearing or comment and not expect to feel a lot of heat from the homeschooling community. For years, they have been telling us that improvements can’t be made in the homeschool regulations without extensive hearings and participation by all manner of parties. However, it seems they think they can take things away without consequence. It is up to us as homeschoolers to let them know that this is manifestly unacceptable. It may be only the special-needs segment today, but unless this is successfully challenged, which homeschoolers will bear the brunt tomorrow? Homeschooling rights in New York are at risk if we do not vigorously respond.