Home Education Forms

Letter of Intent form

 Letter of Intent:

The Letter of Intent, aka Notice of Intent, is sent to the school district's Home Education Contact  within 30 days of starting to homeschool (up to 30 days before, or on the day homeschooling starts, or up to 30 days after starting) to inform the district that a parent is taking control of a child's education. This is how homeschooling officially begins in Florida.

The parent is not asking for permission to homeschool, but is announcing that the parent has taken control of the child's education.

The parent can opt to send one letter of intent for all of the family's school-age children as long as each child's date of birth is clearly given with the child's name. (If a Letter of Intent was sent previously for some of the children, don't include them again when adding on another child.)

The district cannot refuse to accept the Letter of Intent unless the child is not yet required to be in an official educational program (in not yet six years old and will not turn six by Feb. 1st of the current school year) or is past school age or the parent homeschooled previously but didn't send in a final evaluation.

The sample form below may be printed out, filled out, and submitted to the district's Home Education contact. Or type your own version of it listing the information asked for on the sample form. Emailing a photo or scan of the completed form to the district's home education contact provides a great paper trail. Districts cannot add requirements to state law--they cannot require documentation come to them another way.

The district is required to record the Letter of Intent and, per FL DOE policy, must confirm receipt in writing.

If nothing in writing is received confirming receipt of this letter by the district within two weeks, we recommend resending the Letter of Intent to both the district's Home Education Contact and the Superintendent . (Confirmation might be a brief auto-response email, a hand-crafted email, or a letter sent through the mail.)

The date of this letter sets the evaluation deadline for that child. Every year, the anniversary of that Letter of Intent is when an evaluation is due. (Unless you stop homeschooling--and then an evaluation is due within 30 days of your Letter of Termination.)

See our page on
getting started homeschooling
for more information.

Home Education Contacts

See the FL DOE's Home Education contact list for information on where to send official documentation such as the Letter of Intent, and evaluation paperwork.

Districts are required to provide written confirmation of receipt of documentation. If no confirmation is received within two weeks, we recommend sending again but this time include the superintendent. Contact information for superintendents

Email is a great option for sending as email is considered a legal record in Florida and provides a great paper trail. Be wary of certified mail as the receipt has proven useless many times as officials have stated the receipt only proves that an envelope was received.


Delivering in person can be a good option if the office is open; many such officials are still working from home now; be sure to request a receipt which will likely be a photocopy with their "date received" stamp on it.

If the district doesn't confirm receipt of the Letter of Intent within two weeks, we recommend resending it to the Home Education Contact and also to the Superintendent.

Superintendent Contact Info

If moving to a new Florida district and continuing to homeschool in the new county, consider using the transfer form instead of terminating in one county (with an evaluation) and then a new Letter of Intent in the new county.

Use of the Form

The Home Education Transfer Request form is designed to be sent by the parent after moving to a new Florida school district.

The parent can print out the form from this page and complete it and then email, mail, or hand-deliver the form to the new and old school districts. (Email is often the easiest way and will make district verification simpler.)

An actual signature is required. A photo or scan can be sent to both districts.

The old district should send verification to both the parent and the new district of the next evaluation deadline based on the original letter of intent to the new district.

History of the Form

Home Education Transfer Request Form

A committee formed by Brenda Dickinson, including myself and another long-term homeschool advocate, worked at the behest of Sandra Eggers at the Florida Dept of Education, over the last weeks of January 2022 to revise a form that would then be given to all the Florida school districts (aka counties) to smooth the process of transferring home education records for those who move from one county to another.


History
In October 2020, when Brenda Dickinson, myself, and a couple of other homeschool veterans worked to vet proposed changes to the official Florida Dept of Education's Home Education FAQ page online, we discussed the fact that Florida law says that home education is NOT a school district program and the practice that was required at that time of having to send in a Letter of Termination with an evaluation didn't make sense if the parent was continuing to homeschool and just moving to a new district. If home education wasn't a school district program, why should it matter to them that the program was changing location within Florida? We proposed that parents could, after moving to a new county, transfer their Letter of Intent without a Letter of Termination and an evaluation to the old county and the parent should keep the same evaluation deadline. The Florida Dept of Education agreed that this was in keeping with state law and the change was implemented in their official Home Education FAQ pages and announced at one of the regular meetings of the Home Education Liaisons for each district.

But no clear process was put in place and some districts rejected the process. Some misunderstood and thought that sharing of too much information, aka too much work, was involved to make this process work. Confusion has reigned.

The new form was designed to create a process that all the districts will understand and comply with.

Where should I send the form?

The form should be sent to both the old and new school districts' home education contacts after moving to a new Florida school district.

Contact information for the Home Education Liaisons in all Florida school districts should be listed on this contact list that the Fl Dept of Education maintains or look on the local school district's website for their home education contact information.

When will written confirmation be received?

Written confirmation of the evaluation deadline information provided by the old school district to the new school district should be sent to the parent. If this information is not received in about two weeks, we recommend sending again to the Home Education Liaisons AND the school superintendents

Florida school superintendent contact information can be found on this contact list.

Who do I contact if there's a problem?

If there is a problem, such as a district refusing to cooperate with the transfer, contact the FL Dept of Education at [email protected] or [email protected] or send us a message at [email protected]

Home Education Transfer form
Updated Feb. 2022

Moved to a new Florida county and continuing to homeschool?
The new district should be notified of your intent to homeschool (within 30 days of moving) and your previous school district should be notified that you are no longer homeschooling in their district. This transfer form can be used for both. In addition, the transfer form will prevent the old district from requiring an evaluation if one wasn't yet due.

Transfer Request form--use AFTER moving to a new county to transfer your home education program to the new county without an additional evaluation

Q: What other forms are required to start homeschooling?
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A: None. No other forms are required.

On the other hand, parents are required to keep records that include

• a log of educational activities
• with titles of reading materials, and
• samples of work (either work generated by the student or materials used by the student)
  
  

Some parents keep records without using forms; others find forms useful in helping keep their records. Some people use lesson plans or other records that come with curriculum. Others may use lesson plan books or some other forms or devise their own.

Feel free to use the forms below or adapt them to something that works for your family.

See our page of portfolio examples for more information on record keeping and a variety of samples of others' records.

Monthly log of educational activities--add a few samples of work with titles of reading materials for a full portfolio

Form for tracking credit hours--one option for tracking high school credits

Unit studies log form--attach a few samples of work for a full log of educational activities

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Portfolio Form 1

Two versions of
a simple all-in-one
monthly form that could be used for keeping a portfolio.

Portfolio Form 2

Q: Must I use a district form?

A: No. Under Florida law, districts are not allowed to require the use of specific forms. Districts often have forms that can be used, but they often request information that parents do not have to provide and often include incorrect information. Use of district forms can lead to districts mistakenly thinking that they can require forms or that they can demand more information from parents.

Using alternate forms is a simple way to protect our freedoms and to show officials that a parent understands the law and will not easily be pushed around.

Feel free to use the forms on this page to send official information to the school district.
Or adapt the forms and create your own letter.
A signature is required.

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