Background
The homeschool law in Pennsylvania gives any parent or legal guardian who has legal custody of a child the right to educate their child at home. The only qualification necessary is earning a high school diploma or its equivalent (GED). One other important restriction is that neither you or any adult living in the home were convicted of one of the crimes identified in subsection (e) of section 111 of the school code within 5 years of the date of the affidavit. Most parents are not certified teachers and follow the procedures outlined in 24 P.S. § 13-1327.1.
For parents who are certified to teach in Pennsylvania, there’s another option. They can file a notice of their intention to homeschool under the private tutor option, which is governed by 24 P.S. § 13-1327(a).
In the past, there was some disagreement as to whether parents are permitted tutor their own children. As of the date of this post, the Pennsylvania Department of Education supports a parent’s right to tutor her own children and many parents successfully exercise this right without a hassle from the school district.
Parents who proceed under this option aren’t obligated to provide evidence of health services, prepare a portfolio, obtain an evaluation or obtain standardized test results.
Language of the Statute
The private tutor option provides:
“Regular daily instruction in the English language, for the time herein required, by a properly qualified private tutor, shall be considered as complying with the provisions of this section. For the purposes of this section, “properly qualified private tutor” shall mean a person who is certified by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to teach in the public schools of Pennsylvania; who is teaching one or more children who are members of a single family; who provides the majority of the instruction to such child or children; and who is receiving a fee or other consideration for such instructional services. No person who would be disqualified from school employment by the provisions of subsection (e) of section 111 may be a private tutor, as provided for in this section. The private tutor must file a copy of his Pennsylvania certification and the required criminal history record with the student’s district of residence superintendent.” 24 P.S. § 1327(a)
Criminal History
Any person, including a parent, who would be disqualified from teaching in a school based on a conviction of any of the crimes listed in subsection (e) of section 111 is also disqualified as a private tutor. The crimes listed are homicide, aggravated assault, stalking, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, rape, statutory sexual assault, indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault, indecent exposure, incest, concealing the death of a child, endangering the welfare of a child, dealing in infant children, prostitution and related offenses, possession of obscene and other sexual materials, corruption of minors or sexual abuse of children. In 2011, the law was expanded to require disclosure of arrests and convictions of the listed crimes and imposed a lifetime bar from employment. If you fall into this category, you are disqualified from tutoring any child under this statute.
Currently the Department of Education requires three clearances; 1) Department of Human Services Child Abuse History clearance, 2) Pennsylvania State Police Request for Criminal Records check, and 3) Federal Criminal History Record Information (CHRI).
You can learn more about the current requirements, including how frequently child abuse reports are required, on the Pennsylvania Department of Education website.
Pennsylvania Certification
“Properly qualified private tutor” shall mean a person who is certified by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to teach in public schools in Pennsylvania. Certification from another state does not satisfy this definition.
A level I or level II certificate is acceptable. While the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) previously asserted that private tutors must maintain active status by completing Act 48 continuing education credits, it has reversed this position and now refers to Act 35 which specifically exempts homeschool evaluators and private tutors in a home education program from Act 48 requirements.
The HSLDA maintains that Act 48 still applies to parents filing under the private tutor option. Since the exception applies to “private tutors in a home education program under section 1327.1”, HSLDA argues that it still applies to private tutors under 1327(a).
This interpretation doesn’t make sense to me. A supervisor has no obligation to identify who provides instruction in the home education program.
If you rely on HSLDA to support you, you’ll have to go along with its interpretation.
Students
The private tutor must also provide a majority of the instruction to one or more children who are members of the same family. Clearly, a parent teaching his or her own children satisfies this requirement. This doesn’t prohibit a parent from tutoring a child in another family but the other family would likely file an affidavit and follow the procedures imposed under section 1327.1. This post discusses that situation in more detail.
Fee or “Other Consideration”
Now, here’s where everyone gets their knickers in a twist. In order to qualify as a private tutor, a person must “receive a fee or other consideration” for instructional services. The interpretation of this will be different depending on who you ask. The PDE claimed in the past that this provision prevents a parent from tutoring his or her own children. It has since declared that interpretation outdated. Some homeschool support groups agree with this position and do not encourage parents to tutor their own children.
The Home School Legal Defense Association will vigorously defend a parent’s right to tutor his own children and has done so. Pennsylvania Home Educators Association also takes the position that the law supports a parent’s right to tutor his own children. Finally, it’s possible that your school district or an administrator is unfamiliar with this option.
If you’re a certified teacher and would like to educate your children at home without the hoop-jumping that the rest of us have to go through (filing affidavits, preparing portfolios, finding an evaluator and administering standardized tests), go for it. If the state determines that you’re qualified to teach other people’s children and gives you a piece of paper that says so, why wouldn’t you be qualified to teach your own?
The issue really hinged on the terms “fee” and “consideration”. Consideration is different than “compensation” and I would argue that legislators included this term to allow for a broad interpretation to include a wide range of persons whether or not they are related to the child. Moreover, legislators specifically prohibited parents from evaluating their own children or administering standardized tests. If their intent was to prohibit parents who are PA certified teachers from tutoring their own children, they would have expressly prohibited it. Like I said, the PDE has abandoned the position that parents can’t tutor their own children.
It took the better part of my first year in law school to get a good grasp of the concept of consideration. “Consideration” is an essential element of any contract and is defined generally as giving something of value in exchange for receiving something of value. It doesn’t have to be an exchange of money, goods or services, although it can be. It can be giving up a right or incurring an inconvenience.
The range of what qualifies as consideration is limitless, even in traditional contracts and I would argue that parents can be creative if they ever have to defend their right to tutor their own children. You are not required to identify the “consideration” when you file your paperwork with the school district. It might be wise to think about the question in the event that your status is challenged.
Finally, the law does not require the private tutor to disclose or articulate what the consideration is.
Additional Requirements
The time, subject and documentation requirements for privately tutored students can be found in the regulations at 22 Pa. Code §11.31.
Parents must provide written assurance that the time and subject requirements have been met. Those requirements can be found in section (a) of the regulation. A simple statement that says just that is sufficient.
Also, it’s important to note that superintendents have very limited authority to challenge a home education program under this provision. First, the regulation specifically prohibits “approval”.
Subsection (b)(3) of the regulation permits a superintendent to request evidence of academic progress and documentation that instruction is being provided for the required number of days and hours but only upon receiving a complaint of same. In other words, a superintendent has no legal authority to inquire about a private tutoring program unilaterally (unless the private tutor is otherwise not qualified).
Still Have Questions?
I prepared a complete guide to help you understand and navigate the private tutor provision. It includes sample letters to help you get started and complete your school year. It also includes the complete text and regulations and an explanation of those provisions to help you understand what is required and what isn’t required.
Get the guide here.
Click on the image to buy the guide!
Hi Beth. I have a couple questions regarding the tutor provision:
1. My wife has a PA teacher’s certificate, but hasn’t kept it up to date with Act 48 requirements since our son was born in 2006. Would she need to get it up to date first in order to then be exempted?
2. What would need turned in to the school district other than a copy of the certificate and a criminal history? Would we need to turn that in every year?
Thanks for any help you can give. This site has been great. We have been using PA Cyber for four years for our oldest son, but want to start homeschooling.
Bob
Hi Bob, thanks for your question. Private tutor option is definitely the way to go since your wife is a PA certified teacher. To answer your questions….
1. Act 48 requirements do not apply to private tutors or evaluators (see 24 Ps §12-1205.1).
2. The PA certificate and required criminal history record (which I believe includes fingerprinting) must be filed before commencement of the home ed program. You don’t have to file that every year but clearances may have to be renewed every 5 years. I think that’s found in subsection e of section 511 of the public school code.
Finally, the regulations at 22 Pa Code 11.31(a) requires the parent (of a student who is privately tutored under the homeschool law) to provide “written assurance that the instructional requirements have been met”. That should be submitted annually according to the statute but I know parents who file their PA certification and criminal history once and are never contacted by the school again. So, that’s the requirement. Hope this helps.
We have also used PA Cyber since our child began kindergarten; she has just finished 5th grade. Since PA Cyber is no longer allowing students to use the Calvert curriculum beyond fifth grade, we will likely be exercising the “private tutor” option to utilize Calvert on our own. The information you provided here is really helpful, since I have found it hard to get a clear picture of what is expected of private tutors. Thank you for making things clear!
Hi Lizabeth, Thank you for your comments. Generally, the provisions that are relevant to PA certified teachers who want to proceed under the private tutor option are 24 P.S. §13-1327(a) and the 22 Pa. Code §11.31 (regulations interpreting law).
I forgot to ask a few questions! Do you know by what date I must submit my private tutor information to our local district? My background checks are more than 10 years old, so I assume I need to get new ones. Must I have all this submitted by August 1, or do I have longer? Thank you for your help and for all this information!
Beth, thank you so much for all your help. You have–as I said before–really clarified so much in this post. You have really helped me to come up with a timeline for everything I need to do to transition from cyber school to private tutoring. I will get to work on those clearances!
Hi again, Beth! I am back with another question. Someone told me today that I still need to have my child evaluated by an evaluator even if I am privately tutoring. Is this true? I don’t think it is, but I wanted to check! Thanks again for help!
False. That person is wrong.
Thank you! I was starting to feel very foolish, as I felt like this person (someone from an online cyber charter support group) was sort of shaming me for what I was doing. Everything I read–including the new 2014 homeschool rules–still seemed to support the notion of private tutoring being a little different, and not needing an evaluator.
I was only sharing our newly-begun homeschool journey to be helpful…didn’t know I would start a brouhaha on an online group! Maybe I will just be quiet in future.
And, now I am glad again that I have submitted my paperwork for all my clearances. Thanks again for your help! I am also joining the Pennsylvania Homeschool Support group on Facebook, so I hope to learn more there as well.
Many thanks again…
The Pennsylvania Homeschool Support group is a great group full of people willing to help. Also, the moderators are very knowledgeable about the law and don’t put up with any sort of antagonism, shaming, bullying or that sort of thing. It’s for information and encouragement.
Hi! Thanks for your help in interpreting the PA homeschool and private tutoring laws. I just spoke to someone from my school district, and she was not sure if the FBI check and fingerprinting is required. It seems, from what I read here, that it is required under PA law. Or, does that depend on the district’s interpretation of the law? If my school district does not ask me for it, do I need to do it? I guess my biggest question/concern is can the state hold it against me if my district does not ask me for it? Thanks!
Sherri, I advocate following the law regardless of a school administrator’s ignorance of it (which isn’t uncommon). Three clearances are currently required:
State Police Criminal History Record (for more information see Act 34 Background Checks webpage)*
Dept of Public Welfare Child Abuse Report (for more information see Act 151 [Child Abuse] Background Checks webpage)
Federal Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) – FBI Report**
Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for this posting. It is incredibly helpful. I find myself in a similar but slightly different situation than a previous poster. My child is currently enrolled in a cyber charter school but it is obvious at this point that the curriculum and program are not a good fit for her, so my husband and I want to withdraw her and homeschool her ourselves. I don’t have anything against just following the regular homeschooling requirements but since I am a certified teacher, it seems to make sense that we should just go with the private tutoring option since there is less oversight and regulation. Having said that, sre there any extra things to consider or do since we will be withdrawing her in the middle of an active school year? Is it enough to just file the teaching certificate and clearances with our home school district or is there anything extra we will need to do with the cyber school to ensure that there aren’t any issues raised or problems caused through lack of communication? Thanks!
Hi Rachel Ann, The only other thing you should do is notify your cyber school that you will be withdrawing your child. It may ask you to send a one-line email. This will avoid “truancy” issues. Of course, you’ll have to return any books or equipment you have from the cyber.
You should also be prepared for your school district NOT to understand the private tutor option. (You may file what you need to file and someone will contact you and ask for objectives or at the end of the year, an evaluation…neither of which is required. For that matter, you may still have someone ask you for a portfolio….DEFINITELY NOT REQUIRED!) If this is the case, and your inclined to educate the district, you can refer them to the language in the statute (precedes the home education program requirements) and/or the regulations that identifies the subjects, paperwork and procedures if you’re choosing this option. That can be found at 22 Pa.Code §11.31.
The law requires the parent to verify (by letter) that the requirements have been met. Many districts do not require this step. Also, the law doesn’t require you to file every year. The letter you send should state that the child will be privately tutored until further notice.
Hope that helps.
My mother is a certified teacher in PA. I’m assuming that I would be able to use her as a private tutor, correct? She homeschooled me when I was in high school.
Hi Charlotte, You’re right. Your mother can be the private tutor for your children. Just file a copy of her PA certification and updated criminal history with the school district along with the names of the children. To understand the documentation required as well as subject requirements, look to 22 PA Code §11.31. Only real restriction is that your mom can only act as a private tutor for the children of one family.
Hi Beth,
I am homeschooling my 7 grade son for the first time this year. I do have a PA teaching certification, but I didn’t file as a private tutor at the beginning of the year (because it seemed confusing).
But, now I’d like to. Should I wait until next year to do it, or can I change my status now (in the middle of the year?)
Thank you!
Well, you can, but it doesn’t really save you the hassle of an evaluation because legally, you would be required to obtain an evaluation for the time period that you homeschooled him under the traditional filing method.
Hi Beth,
I somehow got the idea that if I was a Pennsylvania certified teacher I could private tutor my own children and other people’s children, but it seems from what you quoted above that the children must all be from one family. Does being a private tutor mean I can only homeschool my own children and no one else’s at the same time? Thanks for all your helpful explanations!
Ellen, Yes, that’s right. The law specifically limits a private tutor to “one or more children who are members of a single family”. However, you could privately tutor your own children, one parent (or legal guardian) of the other family could file an affidavit as the supervisor for that family (assuming they meet the minimum qualifications) and you could tutor those children without notifying anyone. (A supervisor can get anyone to instruct students in a home education program with or without a certificate).You could evaluate those other children (if you’re qualified for the respective level). Does that make sense? Kind of a hassle for the other family but it is a way that you could tutor them.
Hi Beth,
Thank you for this post. I am under the impression that if you file as a private tutor and the superintendent decides to look into your child’s schooling, you have less time to “get a case together” than if you homeschooled under the regular provision. Is that true? Also, my husband is a teacher and teaches at a public school now. Can he file as a private tutor of our children? Or do you have to be a certified teacher and not currently teaching professionally?
Thank you!
Hi Devon,
Both good questions. I’ll answer the second question first. Nothing in the law prevents a teacher who is employed from acting as a private tutor in the home education program.
Nothing in private tutor language of the the homeschool law, itself, gives a superintendent authority to “look into” your child’s education. The regulations give a superintendent authority to request evidence of a student’s academic progress ONLY IF the superintendent receives a complaint “that a student is not being provided instruction for the time prescribed or that a student is not making satisfactory progress in the tutoring program”. Then the regs go on to identify what will legally satisfy this inquiry. So, you see, there’s legally no reason for a superintendent to unilaterally question. the homeschool program. It could only be triggered by a complaint. I think the complainer would have to have knowledge of the program. My point is, it’s very unlikely that you’ll have a problem in your program.
I read your response to a commenter who wished to switch to the private tutor option in the middle of the school year. You mentioned that they would still need to have their children evaluated on the schooling done thus far so it wouldn’t really be worth it. Two of my children are in grades that require standardized testing this year so I’m thinking if I go ahead and switch to the private tutor law we can avoid having to do the testing. Can you give me your thoughts regarding this?
Melissa, I wouldn’t advise switching for the sole purpose of dodging the tests since the scores don’t really mean much and I believe they are still required in this scenario. The clear language of the law requires results of standardized tests in the portfolio for those grades. Since an evaluator should review a portfolio for the time that you proceeded under 1327.1, the portfolio should include that. The students can still wait until spring to take the tests and you can submit the evaluator’s certification by June 30. That’s how I view it. I think it will be hard enough for you to explain to school administrators that you’re qualified to proceed as a private tutor where none of the testing, evaluations or medical information is required. Hope this helps.
Thanks so much for your input!
Sure. It’s a good question.
Beth- We are moving to PA in ~4 weeks for my husband’s job. I wanted to look into doing home education just for short term duration (last 4-6 weeks of school year) while we are in temporary housing. What is my best option. I have homeschooled before, but as far as affidavit and evaluations, just want the route that is the fewest hoops to jump through. Appreciate any feedback.
Thanks
Michele,
I’m just going to email you to avoid back and forth through the comments.
In response to your answer to Devon: my husband is also a teacher, and he does not do the daily instruction for our child, I do since I am home all day. We have daily/weekly discussions about curriculum and progress as well as share special work. He guides me through teaching struggles, and helps find teaching resources. Does that really meet the language of “provide a majority of the instruction”?
Elizabeth, if you are limiting the definition of learning to ONLY the time that you are home with your child then, no, technically it does not meet the strict language to”provide a majority of the instruction”. But, if you believe, as I do that a child is learning all the time, then yes, I do believe it CAN meet the language of the law.
It is nobody’s business HOW you conduct your home education program. If you have an ethical dilemma, that’s up to you and you’re free to file an affidavit and proposed list of objectives and find a qualified evaluator to review the portfolio and certify that “an appropriate education has occurred”. I just don’t see how that changes your child’s education. It’s up to you but I wouldn’t dwell on that since I don’t think a district superintendent has any basis to question your husband as the private tutor.
Thanks! One more question. If we decide to go the route of affidavit, can my husband provide the evaluation? He provides this service to other families. If we decide to go the route of private tutor, is there something to file with the district to state this (similar to the affidavit)? If so, where can I obtain a copy.
The law prohibits a parent from evaluating his own child. No reason NOT to file under the private tutor option. You should send a letter which is valid until you no longer educate your children at home. I’ll look for a sample and email it to you.
Hi, Beth. Thanks for trying to help us non-legal experts understand the wording of these laws. I’m currently homeschooling my own children but have at least another year before I’m legally required to report to our school district or the state in any way, since my oldest just turned 7 in April. I have been certified to teach in four states (SC, MI, OR, and WI), but none of those certifications are current.
I am trying to decide whether the hoops (and cost!) I’d have to go through to attain PA teacher certification would make up for the hoops (and associated costs) I’d get to avoid as a homeschool parent who was not a tutor. Of course, I can see the potential benefit of having evaluations and standardized testing, if only as extra accountability and assurance.
It seems that PA does not offer a provisional or temporary certification, so it seems I would have to take any PA-specific tests or classes before I was awarded a PA certificate, but then I would have to do nothing in order to retain it (as long as all I wanted to use it for was homeschooling purposes). Thank you!
You seem to have a correct interpretation of the law. One thing to offset the cost of obtaining your PA credentials….if you have the “grading” experience required for evaluators you could do evaluations. That could be a nice little side income (though seasonal).
I can’t speak to the classes or testing required for you to obtain your certification. It’s really a personal decision. Keep in mind that since portfolios are no longer reviewed by superintendents, the hoops for traditional filing got a tiny bit easier.