The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education is providing updates and reminders for home school liaisons, superintendents, and those who are assigned to assist home school students.

New submission date

The new submission date for Notice of Intent forms will be June 1, 2025. Parents or guardians may submit a paper form (attached to this memo) or use the online portal to submit a Notice of Intent to Home School form.

New NOI system features

Starting June 1, districts will be able to do the following:

• Edit the contact information of existing employees in the NOI database. Currently, the Home School office has only had access to make these changes. On June 1, all districts will have access to make changes to employees who need to be replaced in the system database.
• Edit NOI applications in the database. Currently, school districts cannot edit any information in the NOI system. The changes to the system will allow the school district to edit the parent or student contact information. However, if the parent has selected the wrong district, the home school liaison will need to mark the NOI as ‘under review’ for our office to send to the correct district.
• Five-day waivers check box. When submitting an NOI, parents will now be allowed to check a box and request the five-day wait period to be waived. This request can be approved by the superintendent or his/her authorized representative.

Enrollment into home school

Arkansas Code Annotated 6-15-503 permits “parents or legal guardians desiring to provide a home school for their children shall give written notice to the superintendent of their local school district of their intent to provide a home school for their children.”

Home school is one of many educational options that parents or legal guardians are given in the state of Arkansas. A student may only be ineligible for home school under specific circumstances, which include the following:

1. If the student is currently under disciplinary action for violation of any written school policy, including but not limited to excessive unexcused absences.
2. Open FINS/Truancy cases.
3. If a registered sex offender resides in the home.
4. Failure to return school property (e.g. textbooks, library books, school issued technology, etc.)

For a parent or guardian who chooses to homeschool their child, there are no educational requirements for those who choose this option.

Wait period

If a child is enrolled in school and it is after the August 15^th deadline, a parent or guardian must wait five (5) school days before a child can be withdrawn from school. The child must be in attendance during the five (5) school day waiting period (ACA 6-15-201). The parent or guardian must submit a request to the superintendent to waive the five (5) day wait period.

Copies of Notice of Intent Forms

As of this year, school districts are no longer required to submit paper copies of their NOI forms to the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. The forms can be submitted through the online portal. In the effort to reduce costs and create more efficiencies, paper forms may only be kept on file at the local public school district.

Arkansas Code Annotated 6-18-901 requires “…student record shall be maintained by each school district until the student receives a high school diploma or its equivalent or is beyond the age for compulsory attendance.”

Reviewing Notice of Intent Forms

When a parent or guardian submits an NOI form (paper or online), we ask that you please process those forms in a timely manner.

As a reminder, here are the different statuses that can be used to process your NOI forms.

• ‘Under Review’ – use this status to notify the DESE Home School Office to make corrections, updates, or to relay information about the student(s) or parent/guardian to our office.

   

• ‘Pending’ – this is the default status for an NOI that has been submitted through the online portal.

   

• ‘Truant’ – please use this status for students who have active FINS/truancy cases and are not eligible to file a NOI.

• ‘Review Completed’ – use this status after confirmation the information on the NOI is accurate and complete.

Attachments