My Closer Look at the HSLDA Colorado Homeschool Situation

Homeschooling in Colorado Enrichment Programs

Colorado homeschool enrichment programs are usually one day a week, state funded programs for homeschoolers. Those of us that participate still follow the homeschool laws and are considered full-time homeschoolers under the statute. This fact is important to the story. 

There is no part-time homeschool status under Colorado law. My Tech High apparently didn’t quite grasp this concept.

It is questionable if the superheroes-in-ties at HSLDA did either, since they kept saying the homeschool law doesn’t cover publicly funded enrichment programs. It actually does, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

My Tech was at risk of being defunded by the Colorado Department of Education and agreed to a government overreach to try and save their funding. Our families were told we had to comply with this overreach.

And who’re you gonna call when government overreach threatens Colorado homeschooling families?

H-S-L-D-A!

Getting HSLDA Involved

As soon as the My Tech High sanctioned government overreach was announced, people started contacting HSLDA. I didn’t contact them initially, because I knew many others were on it.

State organizations were weighing in. A lot of HSLDA member families are enrolled in My Tech High’s enrichment program.

We needed guidance and advocacy. We needed the superheroes-in-ties.

Surely HSLDA will take up the cause. 

One of the people that contacted the HSLDA superheroes-in-ties is a close friend of mine. I was with her right after she spoke with the attorney for Colorado. Here is what he said to her, not word for word as I wasn’t on the call: We can’t help you. Publicly funded programs aren’t covered by the homeschool statute. 

It was disappointing to hear that and I was pretty sure that publicly funded programs were covered under the statute, but I needed to do some research.

Then my sister emailed HSLDA to ask a different, but related question about the situation. She got a canned response that she was about to cancel her membership over: Sorry. We can’t help you. Publicly funded programs aren’t covered under the homeschool statute. 

That is a fun line to keep repeating isn’t it? I guess if they say it enough, maybe it’s true?

HSLDA Colorado Requirements

The Colorado homeschool statute actually does have a provision for homeschoolers that participate in publicly funded enrichment programs. It first establishes homeschool law, like what records must be kept, who has authority to ask for records, and it outlines the procedure by which these records can be requested.

Then it talks about homeschoolers participating in publicly funded programs. You know what it doesn’t say? That homeschool law changes based on participation in a publicly funded enrichment program.

I’m not sure why HSLDA operates under the assumption that the homeschool statute doesn’t cover participation in enrichment programs. It very clearly does, in language that my non-lawyer self can understand.

Maybe a little reading and some due diligence are in order.

Colorado Homeschool Law

I am no legal expert, but I was encouraged by what I found in the homeschool law. Participation in a publicly funded enrichment program doesn’t change the status of homeschoolers. Which means the procedures outlined in the law for demanding records would need to be followed.

But why would HSLDA keep saying that the homeschool law doesn’t cover this?

I emailed HSLDA to ask them to take another look at the statute because they were mistaken about enrichment programs. I also reminded them of what happened the last time I asked for advice, and that they are not always right the first time.

Now that they had this easy to find information, the superheroes-in-ties would surely stop telling Colorado member families that the homeschool law doesn’t cover publicly funded programs. Maybe now they would put on their capes and help us.

Where is HSLDA?

After my sister pushed-back at HSLDA’s response, she was contacted by their attorney for Colorado. He mistakenly thought that My Tech High is a full-time program because their website said so. Turns out, he was looking at the site for Utah, not Colorado.

I guess a little research about which state you’re dealing with can be challenging.

Okay, my sister, who is not a lawyer, sent him the information. Whew! Good thing someone found this super hard to find, in plain sight information.

The attorney asked to speak with her by phone, and she invited me to that call. To the superhero-in-a-tie’s credit, he handled the extra addition to the call well. He got two for the price of one. Actually, it was probably more like two for the price of four.

We’re a force to be reckoned with sometimes.

My Discussion with HSLDA

The phone conversation was good for the most part. We got further in that conversation than others who contacted HSLDA. But why did it take so much back and forth and pushing them to do something? 

Why couldn’t a law professional, who I assume passed a Bar exam somewhere, at least figure out which state they were looking at? I hear the bar exam is pretty difficult, so I am pretty sure he at least knows the difference between Colorado and Utah.

My point is that none of this information is hidden or difficult to find.

There is much I can say about the conversation we had, but I am not going to get into all of the nitty gritty details.

What I will say is that, in my opinion, I am unimpressed by what seems to be a lack of knowledge of Colorado Homeschooling. If you are representing a state for an organization that is supposed to be the gold standard of homeschool legal expertise, then do a little research and be the expert.

Did HSLDA Come Through for Colorado Homeschoolers

The jury’s still out on this one (no pun intended). The HSLDA attorney agreed to pursue the matter further. At this point, I don’t know what was or wasn’t done. There hasn’t been any follow up, which is fine. Hopefully he did what he said he would do.

Nothing was resolved after speaking with HSLDA. My Tech High still submitted the overreaching work samples to the CDE. To My Tech’s credit, they did not retaliate against families that refused to submit the work sample. Was this because of HSLDA or just My Tech doing the right thing? I have no idea at this point.

This is anything but a heroic story of the superheroes-in-ties. I don’t think we will read about this in their newsletter. We said we couldn’t help and we resolved nothing probably isn’t good for member recruitment, or retention.

Is HSLDA Membership Worth it

Prior to my phone conversation with the attorney, I was done and ready to cancel my membership. I know of several other families that felt the same way. Does HSLDA actually do what they say they do?

While I appreciate the attorney taking the time to talk with us, it was literally a couple hours before the deadline My Tech High placed on us. Talk about too little too late.

The stories I hear about the heroics of HSLDA come directly from HSLDA, but my two experiences don’t seem that heroic.

Do they only help if they think the story will make a good headline? Maybe they should share the stories of sorry I can’t help you. At least it would set an appropriate expectation when members ask for help. I guess that doesn’t make a great marketing campaign.

My View of HSLDA in Colorado Homeschooling

If HSLDA does what they say they do, then they are a great organization. But based on my previous experience with them and this one, I don’t see it.

This situation was a big deal for Colorado homeschoolers that could have future consequences. Many member families are affected. And they seem disinterested.

In both situations, they made an attempt to make things right. While I would be remiss to not acknowledge these attempts, in my opinion, both times it was too late. Doing the right thing the first time, without the need for begging or convincing, would make a big difference.

I am left with a lot of questions about HSLDA. This recent experience was very eye opening. I have heard criticism of HSLDA over the years, but I didn’t understand what all of the controversy was about. Now the picture is much clearer.

I really hope that both of these situations are not the norm of how HSLDA operates. But this wasn’t just one time that could be written off as a mistake. They are 0 for 2 with me.

There is a need in the homeschool world for what they claim to be, and I hope they will live up to their reputation and be the superheroes-in-ties that homeschoolers need.