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KANSAS
Compulsory Attendance Ages: “reached the age of 7 and under the age of 18
years.” Kansas Statutes Annotated § 72-1111(a). However, compulsory attendance
age ends at 16 years with parental consent. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 72-111(b).
Required Days of Instruction: Must teach for a period of time “substantially
equivalent” to that of the local public school. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 72-1111(a)(2).
Required Subjects: None for “non-accredited” private schools. For public
schools and accredited private schools: includes reading, writing, arithmetic,
geography, spelling, English grammar and composition, civil government, United
States and Kansas history, patriotism and duties of a citizen, health, and
hygiene. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 72-1101 and § 72-1103.
Home School Statute: None.
Alternative Statutes Allowing for Home Schools:
Option 1. Non-accredited Private school option.
1. Choose a name for the school, then register the name and address with the
State Board of Education. § 72-53,101 Kan. Stat. Ann. Keep a copy of the
registration in case the state loses the original. Always refer to your home
school as a “private school” when dealing with officials—not as a “home school.”
2. The instructor must be “competent.” Kan. Stat. Ann. § 72-1111(a)(2).
3. Instruction must be provided for a period of time “substantially equivalent”
to public school, about 186 days. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 72-1111(a)(2).
4. The instruction must be (a) planned and (b) scheduled, and (c) periodic
testing must occur. Kansas Attorney General Opinion No. 85-159 (1985) says the
factors outlined in In Re Sawyer 672 P.2d 1093 (1983) (planned and scheduled
instruction, periodic testing, and competent instructor) should be applied to
determine whether home instruction is a private school.
5. State approval is not required. The State Department of Education has no
authority to approve or disapprove non-accredited private schools. This
interpretation has been upheld by many trial courts: In re Jost, No. 84-JC-88
(Marion County Dist. Ct. 1985), (holding that the HSLDA member’s home school was
a legitimate non-accredited private school); In re Ahlman, No. 83-JC-1366
(Harvey County Dist. Ct. April 11, 1984); and In re Hardon, No. 85-JC-9 (Rawlins
County Dist. Ct. Jan 17, 1986); and In re Hastings, 83-JC-1365 (Harvey County
Dist. Ct. 1984); and In the Interest of Zephyrus White, 82-J-08, (Cloud County
Dist. Ct., July 2, 1982) cited in Sawyer 672 P.2d at 1097.
6. Local approval of a private school is not required. In the In re Ahlman case,
the judge ruled: “the statute does not authorize independent evaluation of the
competency of a prima facie private school by local public school officials or
local law enforcement authorities, absent clear evidence of a sham or subterfuge
involving educational neglect. Children found to be participating in a prima
facie private school are not truant under § 72-1111 not withstanding the fact
that such school operates in a private residence.”
7. Local approval of private school teachers is not required. Kan. Attorney
General Opinion 75-409 said school boards have “no authority either express or
implied to evaluate the competence of an instructor of a private school or to
approve or disapprove the qualifications of any such instructor.”
8. Unplanned, unscheduled instruction by an instructor who was not competent and
did not conduct periodic testing was ruled to not be a private school by the
Kansas Supreme Court in In re Sawyer 672 P.2d 1093 (1983).
Option 2. Certain counties will recognize home schools that operate as a
“satellite” of an existing private school within the state of Kansas. For
example, HSLDA’s case of In re Willms, No. 87-JC-350 (Shawnee County Dist. Ct.,
Feb. 12, 1988), found a home school operating as a satellite and accountable to
a local private school board to be in compliance with § 72-1111.
Parental Rights Act:
KSA § 38-141. The Kansas legislature enacted a Parental Rights Act in 1996 that
further protects a parent’s right to choose home schooling:
(b) It shall be the public policy of this state that parents shall retain the
fundamental right to exercise primary control over the care and upbringing of
their children in their charge.
(d) Any parent may maintain a cause of action in state court or in any court of
competent jurisdiction for claims arising under the principles established in
subsection (b).
Teacher Qualifications: Must be “competent.” Kan. Stat. Ann. § 72-1111(a)(2).
The local board “has no authority either express or implied to evaluate the
competence of an instructor of a private school or to approve or disapprove the
qualifications of any such instructor.” Kan. Op. Att’y. Gen. 75-409.
Standardized Tests: Not required by statute.
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