As the new school year begins, the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) Office of Compulsory School Attendance Enforcement would like to remind parents about the law governing school attendance and about the deadline for notifying school districts of home school decisions.
The compulsory school attendance law requires a parent, legal guardian, or custodian who has legal control or charge of a child age 6 to 17 to enroll him or her in an education program (public, private, or home school). Based on the compulsory school attendance law, a compulsory-school-age child means a child who has reached the age of 6 years on or before September 1 of the calendar year and who has not reached the age of 17 years on or before September 1 of the calendar year. The law also includes any child who will be age 5 on or before September 1 and has enrolled in a full-day public school kindergarten program.
Parents interested in providing educational services to their child/children at home are required to complete a certificate of enrollment, which includes a simple description of the educational services. The certificate of enrollment must be submitted to the school attendance officer by September 15 of each year the child home schools. This is in accordance with the compulsory school attendance law. Parents should keep a copy of the enrollment form for their records.
For additional information, please contact the local school district or the school attendance officer in your county. Families may also visit https://mdek12.org/OCSA.
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