Monitoring

As per Policy/Program Memorandum No. 131 (PPM 131) - http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/131.html -- homeschooling parents are asked to send a letter of intent to their school board on a yearly basis indicating that they will be homeschooling their child(ren). The letter should include the name, gender and date of birth for each child who is being homeschooled, plus the telephone number and mailing address of the home. A sample is provided in PPM No. 131 as Appendix B. OFTP recommends that you keep a copy of the letter that you send to the school board for your records.

In turn, once the school board receives this letter of intent they are to assume that satisfactory instruction is taking place and that the child is excused from attendance at school. The board should send a letter to the parents acknowledging that they have received the letter of intent. A sample is provided in PPM No. 131 as Appendix C.

School boards should not ask for any further information or send any forms to the parents to be completed and returned to the school board regarding monitoring the homeschooling program. Therefore, if a school board asks parents to complete forms indicating what curriculum they use, what activities they do, how many hours of instruction do they give per day, etc. the parent is not required, by law, to complete these forms or have a school board official (i.e. attendance counsellor) visit them at their home.

There is nothing in the Ontario Education Act stating that homeschooling parents must allow school boards to monitor their homeschooling program, therefore, parents are not breaking any laws under the Education Act if they refuse to allow school board monitoring.

Board Investigation

Policy/Program Memorandum No. 131 (PPM 131) allows for school boards to carry out Board investigations of home schooling contained under Appendix D of the PPM 131 document. PPM 131 states the following:

"…..where a board has reasonable grounds to be concerned that the instruction provided in the home may not be satisfactory, the board should investigate the matter. The following is a list of some of the reasons that may give a board cause to investigate a particular instance of home schooling:

refusal of a parent to notify the board in writing of the intent to provide home schooling
a credible report of concern by a third party with respect to the instruction being provided in the home
evidence that the child was removed from attendance at school because of ongoing conflicts with the school, not for the purpose of home schooling
a history of absenteeism by the child prior to the parent's notifying the board of the intent to provide home schooling"

Note: a board investigation does not carry any legal weight, therefore, homeschooling parents are not breaking any laws under the Education Act if they choose to not participate in a board investigation.

If a family is requested by a school board to complete the Investigation Form contained under Appendix D of PPM 131 the school board should provide, in writing, the valid reasons for requesting an investigation. Not knowing if learning is taking place in the home, how learning is accomplished, or whether or not satisfactory instruction is taking place are NOT valid reasons for further investigation.

Please see OFTP's response to PPM 131 at http://www.ontariohomeschool.org/ppm131.html for further discussion and clarification on the issue of Board investigations.

It is up to each individual family to determine whether or not they will participate in school board monitoring or a board investigation. As noted above, it is not required by law but the decision of whether to comply or not will need to be determined by each homeschooling family.

Inquiry Process

Just a brief word about Inquiries………An Inquiry is contained in the Education Act and carries legal weight. The only individual who can conduct or instruct that an Inquiry take place is the Provincial School Attendance Counsellor. An inquiry cannot be called by a school board. For more information on the inquiry process please see Inquiry Process in Ontario and Paper Inquiry contained under Legal Issues on OFTP's main page of the website.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Please note the difference between an investigation launched by a school board (or board monitoring) and an inquiry launched by the Provincial School Attendance Counsellor (PSAC). The school board investigation/monitoring does not carry any legal weight. PPM No. 131 is a policy guide only and does not carry the force of law. There are no penalties for not following the PPM document. An inquiry initiated by the PSAC is contained in the Ontario Education Act, Section 24(2), and does carry legal weight. You must participate if an inquiry is called on you, otherwise you could be facing truancy charges and fines under Section 30 of the Education Act (which implies a court case).

For more information contact OFTP