Almost every guide to leaving a public school tells you to send the withdrawal letter first. In Massachusetts that advice is not just unhelpful, it is backwards. Here the letter is the last thing you send, because the state asks to see the plan before the child leaves the roll.
The compulsory attendance law excuses a child who is
otherwise instructed in a manner approved in advance by the superintendent or the school committee
M.G.L. c. 76, § 1
Three words carry the whole difference: approved in advance. The Supreme Judicial Court settled what that means in Care and Protection of Charles in 1987, and settled the timing with it. Approval has to be obtained
prior to the removal of the children from the public school and to the commencement of the home schooling program
Care and Protection of Charles, 399 Mass. 324 (1987)
The standard the plan is measured against is not a new one. Charles read home education into the approval standard the statute already used for private schools: the instruction must equal
in thoroughness and efficiency, and in the progress made therein, that in the public schools in the same town
Care and Protection of Charles, 399 Mass. 324 (1987)
In the same town. Not against a state average, and not against somebody’s idea of a good education. Against the schools your child is actually leaving.
Approval is a process, not a favor
The district has to explain a no. And if it comes to it, the district carries the burden.
Reading only the words “approved in advance”, a family could be forgiven for thinking they are asking permission from someone entitled to say no for any reason at all. Charles says otherwise. A refusal has to state its reasons in detail, and the family has to be given the opportunity to revise the plan against those reasons. And should a family go ahead over a refusal, the burden of proof shifts to the school committee to show the plan fails the thoroughness and efficiency standard. The family does not have to prove the plan is good; the district has to prove it is not. Brunelle v. Lynn Public Schools added a second limit in 1998: approval may not be conditioned on evaluative visits to your home without your consent.
The statute is one section at M.G.L. c. 76, § 1, and the case that governs everything else is published in full at 399 Mass. 324.
What leaving actually requires
- A written home education plan, submitted first
The subjects to be taught, the materials and curriculum, the instructional time, who is teaching and what qualifies them, and how progress will be evaluated. It goes to the superintendent or the school committee before anything else happens. - Approval in hand before the child leaves
This is the step that reorders everything. Until the plan is approved, the child is still enrolled and still expected in class, and days missed in the meantime are absences like any other. - A plan written against your own town’s schools
The comparison the law makes is local. What the district you are leaving actually teaches, and the progress it actually expects, is the yardstick, which is a fairer test than it sounds. - A record of the exchange
Submit in writing and keep the reply. If the answer is no it must come with reasons, and those reasons are what you revise against; if the answer never comes, your dated submission is what shows you asked. - The withdrawal letter, sent last
Once the plan is approved, the letter closes the roll and asks for the records. Sending it earlier does not speed anything up and leaves the child enrolled nowhere.
Where Massachusetts sits in the series
Six states, and only one of them turns the order around.
| State | What comes first | Does anyone have to say yes? |
|---|---|---|
| Indiana | The withdrawal letter | No, and no form is required either |
| Iowa | The withdrawal letter | No; an answer only if the superintendent asks |
| Kansas | Registering the school’s name | No, there is no approval process at all |
| Louisiana | The withdrawal letter | Yes, but after the fact, on a yearly renewal |
| Maryland | The notification form, 15 days ahead | No; you choose who reviews you |
| Massachusetts | The education plan, before anything | Yes, in advance, and a no must be explained |
Read the column on the right too quickly and Massachusetts looks like the hardest of the six. Read the case and it is the one that says the most about what a district owes a family: reasons for a refusal, a chance to fix it, and the burden of proof on the district rather than the parent. Those protections exist because families went to court for them, twice.
Writing a plan this month?
Fifteen minutes on the phone covers what the plan has to describe, why the letter goes last in Massachusetts, and how a structured program’s curriculum, licensed teachers, instructional hours and progress reports supply most of what the plan has to show. No records required to have the conversation, and deciding against it costs nothing.
Doing it in order
Write the plan before you tell anyone anything
Subjects, materials, instructional time, who teaches, and how progress is measured. A structured program supplies most of this on paper already, which is the practical reason families reach for one here.
Submit it to the superintendent or the school committee
In writing, dated, and keep a copy. This is the step the rest of the country does last and Massachusetts does first.
Wait for the answer, and read a no closely
A refusal has to state its reasons in detail and you have to be given the chance to revise against them. Most disagreements end here, in a second draft rather than a fight.
Only once approved, send the withdrawal letter
Now the child comes off the roll. Ask in the same letter for the full transcript, immunization records, and course descriptions for anything half finished.
Keep the plan you were approved on
It is the description of what you said you would do, and progress against it is what a later evaluation looks at. Keep the work as you go rather than assembling it afterwards.
The withdrawal letter, ready to send
Short is correct, and in Massachusetts it is sent only after the plan is approved. This goes to the school your child attends now, addressed to the principal and copied to the registrar.
Dear Principal [name],
Our home education plan for our child, [student full name], date of birth [DOB], currently in grade [grade], was approved by [superintendent / school committee] on [date of approval]. This letter is formal notice that [he/she/they] is withdrawn from [school] effective [last day of attendance], and will be instructed at home under Massachusetts law, M.G.L. c. 76, § 1.
Please update your enrollment records accordingly and confirm receipt of this letter by reply. Please also send a complete transcript, immunization records, and course descriptions for any course in progress to [address / email].
Thank you for your help.
[Your name]
[Address]
[Telephone]
What we can and cannot tell you
High School of America is an accredited private school based in Florida, not a Massachusetts school, and enrolling with any school is not the same thing as the approved-in-advance home education plan the statute describes. What your superintendent will approve is their judgment to make and this page has not tried to predict it. What the page has done is quote the statute’s operative phrase, quote the standard and the timing from the case that governs them, name the two limits the courts put on districts, and link the statute and the full text of Charles so you are reading the sources rather than a summary of them.
If you want a person to talk it through with, that is what the counselor call is for, and it is not a sales appointment. Bring whatever records you have, or none.
The wider picture sits on the requirements state by state, and if you are early enough to still be deciding, the three-route comparison weighs this against staying exactly where you are.