Homeschool Education Program Details (Florida)

NOTE 1: The Personalized Education Program (PEP) which was created for the 2023-2024 school term and after, is NOT the same as the Home Education Program.

Note 2: Students enrolled as a Full-time students in FOFCAI or another Florida Private School are NOT required to enroll with the county as a "Homeschooler" as they are Private School Students. Flex or Part-Time students may be Home Education Program, Personalized Educational Program, Public School, Private School or Private Tutor Program studnts who are taking one or more classes at FOFCAI.

Early Learning – 20 Education Code
Chapter 1002 Student and Parental Rights and Educational Choices
f.s. 1002.01 Definitions.—
(1) A home education program means the sequentially progressive instruction of a student directed by his or her parent to satisfy the attendance requirements of ss. 1002.41, (Home Education Programs) 1003.01(13), (Regular School Attendance) and 1003.21(1). (School Attendance)
(Section (2) is new as of July 1, 2023)

Your Six Responsibilities Under the Home School Act (Florida)

The following overview is taken form f.s. 1002.41 Home Education Programs - You can look the statute up on line, or download the .pdf version here.

1) Send a notice of intent to your district school superintendent.

The notice is a simple letter stating who the parent(s) are, names, date of birth, and grades of all students you will be teaching at home. Although there is no formal requirement defining the format of the "Letter of Intent," most counties in Florida have a ready-made form. It is sometimes hard to find on the district web site, so you may have to call your county public school district to obtain the specific form for your county.

2) Maintain a portfolio of records.

The requirement is to maintain a portfolio; the legislature did not set guidelines as to format or substance. Some support groups and individual entrepreneurs actively market portfolio kits, but, generally speaking, if you take at least weekly samples of course work in all core subjects and put them in a file folder with a copy of
title and index pages of the curriculum text, you will have all the legislature intended. (Core subjects include, at minimum: English, math, social studies and science, but writing, spelling, etc. should be added.)

3) Make your portfolio available for inspection upon a 15-day written notice.

If your county requests an inspection, they must mail you a notice at least 15 days ahead of time. It should be noted here that the state law in no way gives the county the right to tell you what books to use or the substance of those subjects, except in cases of truancy oversight. Even if the county does not approve of the curriculum choices you have made, they cannot force you to stop homeschooling or change curriculum unless it can prove by a standardized test that your child is not making academic progress. Even then, they have to put you on probation for one year to give you a chance to make progress. Most counties understand they have little or no control over the rights of a parent. All homeschooling families should prayerfully consider joining Homeschool Legal Defense to keep it that way.

4) Submit an annual evaluation for each student.

For each child enrolled with the county you must submit one of the following:

1) A nationally normed, standardized test that the county will accept. Most counties will take any normed reference test. The Florida Department of Education Choice Office maintains a list of approved tests that private schools must select from if they take the Florida Tax Scholarship (FTC) or Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO). Since that list has been approved by the Florida Department of Educaiton, it is assumed that every county would accept a test from that list. The list can be found at: FLDOE Annual Assessment Requirement
2) A state certified teacher evaluation. The teacher does not have to teach the grade your student is in and can use any evaluation method or combination of methods he chooses, i.e. test, portfolio review, etc.
3) The third option is any method that is mutually agreed upon between the county and the parents.

5) Preserve your child’s portfolio for two years.

Even though the county has not asked to see your portfolio, you must keep it for two years.

6) Submit a letter of termination.

Most county system do not connect the homeschool registered students with those enrolled in public school, so if you do not send the letter when your student has completed all schooling, or has enrolled in a public or private school, or if moving from the county, your student may be counted as truant and could lose his or her right to drive and be denied the right to homeschool in the future, even if he was in a regular school all the time.

Additional considerations for enrollment if Florida Virtua School (FLVS) classes and the Bright Futures Scholarship,

Each county in Florida has a Home School departmetn within the public school District. As the homeschooling parent it is your responsibility to know and abide by the guidance from that office for documenting Community Service Hours, qualifing test scores etc. so the student can be submitted for the Bright Futures Scholarship. Some counties also have procedures for approving Dual Enrollment and FLVS classes.