The extent to which we maintain our parental rights and responsibilities depends on how we think, act, and react, especially when dealing with the public officials, including school officials.
The question of whether our child is officially enrolled in a public or conventional private school provides a good example of how we can think, act, and react. To maintain our rights, we can and should understand and make clear to others that "officially enrolled" means we have formally registered our child for the coming school year and/or sent our child to school when it opens in the fall.

School districts increasingly seem to want to claim that a child is enrolled until the child is formally withdrawn which sometimes requires a parent or guardian signing an official withdrawal form. But such practices assume that the school rather than the parent has control over a child during the summer and, more importantly, that the public school is where the child should be during public school hours unless the child is formally withdrawn. The compulsory attendance law states that a parent or guardian shall cause a child to attend a school. It is up to the parent or guardian to decide which school and to ensure that the child attends. The legal requirements and penalties have to do with whether a child is attending a school, not whether a child has been formally withdrawn from a school. Homeschoolers sometimes begin homeschooling in the middle of the school year. Filing the PI-1206 form is all that is necessary for this to happen. This acknowledges that the parent is responsible for their child in accordance with the statutes and does not require that parents sign a withdrawal form.
Please inform WPA if your local school officials claim your child is officially enrolled simply because they attended a public school last year or if they insist that you sign an official withdrawal form before beginning homeschooling.   v

Key Points

• It is illegal to homeschool in Wisconsin without filing form PI-1206 “on forms provided by the department [the DPI],” which now means filing online.

• WPA and all other Wisconsin-based homeschooling organizations that we know of tell homeschoolers to file form PI-1206 online. Detailed instructions are available on the WPA website.

• Unfortunately, the website of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) suggests that homeschoolers file HSLDA’s paper version of form PI-1206. Homeschoolers who file this version and do not file the online version are homeschooling illegally. They could be charged with truancy and taken to court. This could lead to new homeschooling legislation that increases state regulation of homeschooling and reduces the homeschooling freedoms of all homeschoolers.

• Please inform other homeschoolers so they do not file a paper form because they were misinformed by HSLDA’s website and then get into trouble.

Summary: To maintain our homeschooling freedoms, it is important for us Wisconsin homeschoolers to understand and act according to some key principles. It’s a good idea to review these from time to time and especially now because WPA disagrees strongly with parts of a message posted on September 16, 2011 on the Web site of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). (See “HSLDA Responds to Criticism on Statement of Enrollment Issue” at www.hslda.org.) It would be irresponsible of WPA not to respond.

Dear WPA Members and Other Homeschoolers,

Please share this information with other homeschoolers.

Having read the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)'s most recent post http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/wi/201109160.asp, WPA continues to stand by its posts http://issues.homeschooling-wpa.org/filing-form-pi-1206/. Our position is based on our 27 years of experience in Wisconsin and our knowledge of Wisconsin homeschooling law (which we helped write) and the PI-1206 form. We have worked to ensure that the form requires the minimum information possible from homeschoolers. It does not require children's names, ages, Social Security numbers, etc. The result is a form that maximizes and protects Wisconsin homeschoolers' freedoms.
 
The bottom line is this: WPA encourages homeschoolers to file form PI-1206 online and not use HSLDA's paper form. Homeschoolers risk being charged with truancy if they file a paper form or if they begin homeschooling after the third Friday in September and do not file a form this year. They may be taken to court. If enough homeschoolers do this, legislation may be introduced that would increase state regulation of homeschooling. Homeschoolers working together through WPA have worked hard since 1984 to develop and get passed and then maintain one of the best homeschooling laws in the nation. It is working well for homeschoolers in Wisconsin. To us, homeschooling freedom means being able to educate our children according to our principles and beliefs. It saddens us to think that anyone would knowingly or unknowingly jeopardize this law. But we are determined and prepared to continue to work hard to maintain homeschooling freedoms in Wisconsin.

Thanks to the work done by homeschoolers working together through WPA, nothing has changed on form PI-1206 since 1984. The information homeschoolers provide on the online form is exactly the same as has been required for the past 27 years. During this time, it has not caused problems. WPA watches very carefully for requests or demands by the DPI for information that is new and/or exceeds the DPI's authority under the law. For example, in August 2010, the DPI's first proposed version of the new electronic form included two new pieces of information. It required homeschoolers to use an email address as our ID, and it requested our phone numbers. WPA convinced the DPI to accept an ID that was not an email address. (We explain on our Web site why it is important not to use an email address.  http://homeschooling-wpa.org/getting-started/#file) WPA also convinced the DPI to completely remove its request for our phone numbers.

In addition, note that many government agencies now require filing online forms for tax purposes, etc. During a court case or a legislative battle, how many judges or legislators would think filing a form online was a problem?

Thank you for your continuing commitment to homeschooling freedoms.

The WPA Board

WPA Members and Other Homeschoolers:

Please share this information with other homeschoolers.

This email is a followup to two previous emails sent on 9/1/2011 and 9/9/2011; see below.

Summary (details below):
• WPA and HSLDA did not talk today because HSLDA refused to agree to have the conversation recorded.
• The information asked for on the online form PI-1206 is exactly the same as was on the former paper form from 1984 through 2009-2010.
• WPA continues to recommend that homeschoolers file their PI-1206 forms online to prevent court cases and legislation that would further regulate homeschooling.
• Thank you for your emails to WPA and your comments on Facebook.

WPA Members and Other Homeschoolers,

Please share this information with others. People need to know that following the Home School Legal Defense Association’s (HSLDA’s) counsel is dangerous to individuals and to all homeschoolers. You may understand the importance of filing the form correctly and maintaining our good homeschooling law, but not all homeschoolers do. Tell them and support WPA.

Despite the fact that the homeschooling form PI-1206 has worked well for 27 years, HSLDA is counseling Wisconsin homeschoolers to change their filing in ways that would undoubtedly result in individual families being charged with truancy and in court cases and/or legislation that could lead to greater regulation of homeschooling in Wisconsin.

From: WPA <wpa@homeschooling-wpa.org>

Subject: Form PI-1206: Don't follow national organization's bad advice
To: "WPA" <wpa@homeschooling-wpa.org>
Date: Thursday, September 1, 2011, 12:12 PM

Although the DPI plans to post the 2011-2012 PI-1206 form for homeschoolers on its Web site this coming Monday, August 15, please remember not to file your form until sometime between the third Friday in September (Sept. 16) and Oct. 15 UNLESS your children have been officially enrolled in a public school or a conventional private school for the 2011-2012 school year. If they have been officially enrolled, Wisconsin statutes require that you file the form before you begin homeschooling.

For more information, go to the WPA Web site at http://homeschooling-wpa.org and click on the yellow box that says "Filing the Electronic Form PI-1206."

Please share this information with other homeschoolers you know.

 Note: Please read the following information. Specific steps for filing the form are at the end of this section. [This article was posted originally August 20, 2010.]

Key Points to Keep In Mind

Beginning in September, 2010, to save money, the DPI is switching from paper PI-1206 forms to an electronic version that homeschoolers file online for the 2010-2011 school year. Before filing your form, please consider the following.