Two things about withdrawing a child from an Arizona public school catch families out, and neither is difficult once you know it. The paperwork does not go to your school. And there is a second notice, later, that almost nobody is told about.
Arizona’s requirement is a single affidavit of intent, and the law is specific about where it lands.
An affidavit of intent must be filed with the county school superintendent.
Arizona Revised Statutes 15-802
Not the principal. Not the district office. The county school superintendent, which across most of Arizona is a separate office in a separate building from the district a family has dealt with for years. Parents ring the school, get told the school does not handle it, and conclude that nothing is required at all. That is how a household ends up out of compliance while believing it followed instructions.
The affidavit, and what goes in it
The statute sets both the clock and the contents. It “shall be filed within thirty days from the time the child begins to attend a private school or homeschool”, and it “shall include the names, telephone numbers and addresses of the persons who currently have custody of the child.” Your county superintendent’s office publishes its own form. Ask for it by name.
Cover note to the county · copy and fill in
[Date]
Office of the County School Superintendent
[County name] County
[Office address]
To the County School Superintendent,
Please find enclosed my affidavit of intent for my child, [student full name], date of birth [DOB], who began instruction elsewhere than at a public school on [start date]. My contact details, and those of anyone else with custody, are stated on the affidavit as required.
Please confirm receipt in writing, and advise if your office requires anything further.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Address]
[Phone and email]
Send a separate short note to the school itself asking for records and for its own withdrawal form. The two offices do different jobs, and neither will do the other’s.
The part almost nobody mentions
Arizona is unusual in this series because the obligation does not end when you file. The statute keeps going.
If a child is no longer being instructed at a private school or a homeschool, the person who has custody of the child shall notify the county school superintendent within thirty days of the termination.
Arizona Revised Statutes 15-802
So the affidavit is a one-time filing, “not required thereafter unless the private school or the homeschool instruction is terminated and then resumed”, and stopping starts a fresh thirty-day clock of its own. A family who teaches at home for two years, enrolls the student somewhere, and never tells the county has missed a requirement nobody told them existed. Put it in the calendar the day you file the first one.
The records to ask the school for
- The transcript
The only document proving what has already been earned. Ask for an official copy while your child is still on the roll, which is a different conversation from asking afterward. - The immunization record
Needed by whatever comes next, and tedious to rebuild from a paediatric office years later. - The attendance record
Seldom requested and occasionally decisive, because it documents what was actually happening in the year you are leaving. - The IEP or 504 plan, if there is one
The plan belongs to the district that wrote it and does not travel with your child. The copy does, and it is what any future evaluation starts from. - Course descriptions for credits in progress
If a course is half finished, the description is what a receiving school reads when deciding on partial credit. - The school’s own withdrawal form
Separate from the county affidavit, and the school will not file the affidavit on your behalf.
Which office does what
| Task | Where it goes | When |
|---|---|---|
| Affidavit of intent | County school superintendent | Within 30 days of starting |
| Withdrawal and records request | The school or district | While still enrolled |
| Notice that instruction has ended | County school superintendent | Within 30 days of stopping |
| A new affidavit, if you resume | County school superintendent | Within 30 days of resuming |
Not sure which of these applies to your student?
Fifteen minutes with the transcript in front of somebody settles it. Whichever door suits you, nothing about it commits you to enrolling.
What happens to the credits already earned
This is the question families ask before any other. Arizona’s statute governs attendance and notification. It does not compel a receiving school to accept credit earned elsewhere, so the answer rests on the record you can produce and on the school receiving it.
Which is exactly why the transcript and the course descriptions sit near the top of the checklist. A documented credit travels. A credit that exists only as a memory of a good semester does not.
Before you file
Find your county superintendent’s office, not your district’s.
They are different offices. Search your county name together with school superintendent, and ask for the affidavit of intent by that name.
Request records from the school in the same week.
You are a current family today. That changes the moment the student comes off the roll.
File within thirty days of starting, and keep a copy.
Ask for written confirmation of receipt. A dated copy of your own is what settles a question years later.
Put a note in the calendar for the day you stop.
The second notice is what this state is unusual for, and it is the one families miss.
Comparing Arizona with somewhere else, or moving? The differences between states are not cosmetic. New Jersey requires no notice at all and forbids the district from reviewing a curriculum. New York requires an individualised plan, quarterly reports and an annual assessment, and issues no diploma for home instruction. Ohio rewrote its statute in 2023 and much of the guidance still online describes the older version. Our state withdrawal guides take them one at a time.
And if what you are really weighing is what happens to your student’s credits and how long remains to a diploma, that is a short conversation with a counselor and the transcript in front of you. Book a time or call (888) 242-4262.
Sources: Arizona Revised Statutes 15-802, and the Arizona Department of Education’s Official Notice of Pupil Withdrawal guidance. This page describes Arizona’s published requirements and is not legal advice.