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Dear Home Educator:
Montana State Law [MCA 20-5-109(5)] requires the
parent or legal guardian choosing to home school, to sign up
annually with their County Superintendent of Schools. It
is my responsibility to verify you are home schooling and
complying with Montana State Laws and United States regulations,
such as No Child Left Behind mandates. When signing up with my
Deputy Kate Ike
kate@lakemt.gov , we provide you with an extensive
packet of resource information, but you are responsible for your
own curriculum.
Included in the packet, are
state laws pertinent to home schools on
compulsory enrollment, attendance officer, and truancy laws.
Statutes define a home school as "the instruction by a parent
of his child, stepchild, or ward in his residence." The law
states that a nonpublic home school shall: (1) Maintain records on
pupil attendance and disease immunization; (2) Provide at least
180 days of pupil instruction Be housed in a building that
complies with applicable health and safety regulations; (3)
Provide an organized course of study; and (4) notify the county
superintendent of schools each school fiscal year of
the student's attendance at the home school. It is essential to
complete each year’s notification within ten days of the start of
public school in your district. If your child is not enrolled at
the public school where you reside and there is no
notification form in our office by
September 20th, your child would be
considered TRUANT, and the District-of-Residence will proceed
appropriately. Please sign up at this office.
A PDF file for registration is available online via
The Lake County Superintendent of Schools.
Please notify my office if you enroll back in public school.
Districts have various policies and practices that control
admittance and assessment for appropriate grade placement of
non‑accredited, non‑public school children.
Opportunity to Participate in
Federally Funded Programs by Nonpublic Schools
Federal law requires
schools to offer participation in federally funded programs to
every one in the district. The Lake County Superintendent of
Schools provides the federal program descriptions, and provides
the non-public schools the opportunity to participate in these
programs through completion of the required form. The
federally funded programs descriptions and form
are included in the home school packet. Read pages 7-24, print,
complete, and mail page seven, the Opportunity to Participate in
Federally Funded Programs, to my office. When registering
for home school, both Home School Notification and the Federally
Funded Programs Form are required. Copies are sent to the district
of residence and also maintained in the home school file. A
separate federal form must be completed for elementary and high
school students, unless your district is a recognized K-12
District (only St. Ignatius in Lake County). If your district
receives Title I, Part A funds and you choose to
participate in any of the federal programs, your
District-of-Residence is required “to hold consultation in a
meaningful and timely manner” with you. Do not check off
number 4 until you have received the consultation with the
district. Please retain a copy of the form for your records.
Please do not hesitate to contact the office if we
can be of further service. We have
attendance forms
and more information, like the
Montana Coalition
of Home Educators
(MCHE), which publishes the Montana Homeschool
Reference Guide.
The Montana Office of Public Instruction’s
web site has numerous resources including
Montana Content Standards
and a
Get Answers
Tab to help you out.
Sincerely,
Joyce Decker Wegner
County Superintendent of Schools
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