The PI-1206 filing deadline for CURRENT Wisconsin homeschoolers came and went at 11:59:59PM on October 15. Did you miss it? OOPS!
Here’s what you need to know and do now:
- If you are currently homeschooling at least one child between the ages of 6 (by September 1 of this year) and 18 (i.e., providing a private home-based education for – not any sort of public-school-at-home program and not enrolled in AOE), it is an inarguable legal mandate in Wisconsin to file a PI-1206 by October 15;
- If you did not file on said child(ren) before midnight on October 15, you are currently in violation of the state’s compulsory-attendance law (i.e., your kids are truant at the moment and will remain so until you file);
- To rectify the situation, you must – right now! - go to the DPI website (HERE) and file your form immediately;
- The moment you hit “submit,” your kids’ truancy time will stop accruing – but note that your children will, indeed, have been truant for however many hours/days pass between October 15 and when you file. There’s no way around it;
- Therefore, it’s possible that you may be contacted by the DPI or the public-school district in which you reside in regard to the truancy status of your children. That’s not probable if you file immediately today...but it is a possibility;
- If that happens, don’t avoid the contact, get defensive, or try to lie about the form. There is a time/date stamp on every filed form and it will be unavoidably obvious that you filed late. Just admit your error with grace;
- If you didn’t delay in filing as soon as you remembered and it wasn’t long after October 15, you will probably just be given a reminder to file on time next year if you humbly take responsibility for your mistake. Take heed and ensure that you’re on time next year;
- The longer you wait, the more tenuous a situation you may face – including possible truancy charges and/or fines. None of that would be inappropriate government overreach since the mandate to file the PI-1206 by October 15 is written into Wisconsin state statutes (and has been there since 1984). Thus, if you end up facing legal repercussions for filing late, your best bet (for minimizing the damage) is to acknowledge your error and take your lumps without argument;
- The worst response to forgetting would be to skip filing altogether and hope no one notices. While you may not get caught, there is no mistaking that you would be in violation of Wisconsin state law. And, frankly, because public-school enrollment has been tanking the last few years, we believe it’s quite possible that truant homeschoolers may be dealt with very aggressively. Don’t let that happen to you.
NOTES
- This does not apply to families using any form of public-school-at-home (i.e., wherein the family receives free material and resources and/or gets taxpayer-funded stipends) or to those enrolled in a Wisconsin-based online private school that registers with the state (i.e., AOE). Kids in those programs are (by law) designated as public- (or private-) school students (not homeschoolers) and the programs’ sponsoring schools file paperwork about them. Only PRIVATE homeschoolers file a PI-1206;
- None of this applies to people interested in homeschooling but whose kids are still in a conventional public or private school (including a public-school-at-home program) after October 15. In that situation, a parent simply files the PI-1206 immediately upon making the decision to homeschool (whenever during the year that is) and then provides a courtesy withdrawal letter to the school (in that order, as described HERE). The October 15 deadline applies only to those whose kids did not start out the school year in a conventional school.
Questions? Email us HERE.