Mission Statement

Pennsylvania Home Educators Association (PHEA) is an inclusive statewide coalition of home educators whose primary purpose is to provide accurate information and advocate for Pennsylvania home educators.

• PHEA believes in the freedom to home educate with confidence and without fear.
  
• PHEA actively endorses efforts to reduce or eliminate regulation, control, and oversight of home educators.
  
• PHEA believes knowledge equals empowerment.
  
• PHEA encourages its members to freely exchange information regarding home education.
  
• PHEA is not associated with any religion or educational methodology.

Data Collection, Student IDs, and
Home Education Students

Some school districts are requesting information about homeschooled children under the mistaken assumption that the data must be collected in order to create an identifier for each student to comply with No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Home educating parents are under no obligation to provide this information for several reasons:

1. NCLB specifically exempts homeschoolers from the requirements imposed on schools, school districts, and states.

2. The law in Pennsylvania governing home education programs (homeschooling) specifies that homeschooled students are NOT public or non-public school students. Therefore home educated students are exempt from this program.

For more information about the data collection and student tracking,
check out this link:
http://www.pde.state.pa.us/ed_tech/cwp/view.asp?A=169&Q=117631

Your best defense against loss of freedom is to know what the law requires and to obey it. When requested to provide information about birth dates, Social Security numbers, or any other detail, the home education provision of the school code is clear. Home educating families must provide name of student, age, address and phone number of the home education program.

New to Home Education in PA? Click here for some Cautionary Words!

Click here for Home Education Proclamation 2004

Click here to access the PHEA School District Violations page

Past Articles (click title to view entire article):

A victory for the family and all Norwin home educators is the result of the canceled due process procedure on Thursday, November 6, 2003

Public Cyber Charter School – Is it Homeschooling?

Equal Access for Home Educators