April 15, 2020 

Dear Parent: 

Thank you for submitting a Notice oflntent to Provide Home Instruction (Notice) for the 2019-2020 school year. Your annual Notice was filed as submitted, and unless you have received other communications there is nothing that you need to do for the current school year (through June 30, 2020). However, you are receiving this letter because your Notice was missing one or more of the following items: physical home address, child's birth date, reporting school year, or valid prior year assessment. 

Families may be aware that in 2019-2020, the law changed compulsory school attendance in Maine to begin one year earlier, on a child's sixth birthday. Also in 2019-2020, the Depa11ment launched an electronic portal to make it easier for parents providing home instruction to submit the Notice in one place, one time. Because home instruction falls within the compulsory attendance law (20-A M.R.S. 5001-A), which outlines specific student eligibility (birth date), attendance (birth date), and reporting criteria (annual, by September 1 ), home instruction was also included in the Department's review of public, private, and home instruction policy alignment to ensure equitable and accurate administration of the law across all instructional models. Last fall, after consulting with legal counsel in the Attorney General's Office, the Department clarified that parents must indicate an applicable reporting year, supply a student's date of birth in order to determine age eligibility, and provide a physical home address in order to determine school administrative unit assignment and Notice delivery location. 

Because these items are now officially part of home instruction requirements, this letter is to officially notify you that, beginning with the 2020-2021 reporting school year, they must be included in your annual Notice materials. Please see the reverse side of this letter for a complete list ofrequired information. Notices with missing information will be placed in pending status until you provide the missing information. Pending status means that your child's attendance status is not recognized by the State of Maine or by the school administrative unit of residence. It means the Department cannot provide confirmation or verification of home instruction to you or any social service agencies, school administrative units, or post-secondary career or educational entities that may be needed, now or in the future. A Notice that remains in pending status for more than 30 days will be returned to the sender, unfiled, and the student will be considered truant. 

Thank you for your attendance to this important matter. 

Sincerely, 

Pamela Ford-Taylor 

624-6617

Student Enrollment

Maine Department of Education

The second page of the letter includes the following list that the Department of Educations states is required information:

• Applicable School Year (July 1, 2020 - June 30, 2021)

• Parent/Guardian First Nams_, Last Nam.e 􀀂

• Physical Address, City, Zip Code

• Mailing Address (if different), City, Zip Code

• Child's First Name, Last Name

• Child's Date of Birth

• Indicate First or Subsequent Year of Home Instruction

• Date Home Instruction Will Begin (if First Year)

• Assurance (if First Year)

• Prior Year Assessment (if Subsequent Year)

• Statement of Intent to Continue Providing Home Instruction (if Subsequent Year)

• Signature

• Date of Signature

• A valid email address if the parent would like an acknowledgment