House Bill 1013 Signed by Governor Corbett on October 31, 2014!
Here are highlights of the changes to the Home Education Program Law.
High School Diplomas:
High school diplomas awarded by the supervisor (parent) or by a state recognized diploma program have all of the rights and privileges of a Commonwealth diploma.
End of school year:
By June 30, the supervisor must submit the student’s evaluation certification to the school district superintendent. The evaluator’s certification must be accepted. Portfolios, containing your log, samples and standardized test results (in 3rd, 5th or 8th grades) are NOT submitted for superintendent review.
During the school year:
If at anytime during the school year, the superintendent has reasonable belief that appropriate education is not occurring, he may send a certified, return receipt requested, letter, including the basis for the reasonable belief, requesting an evaluation. The evaluation certification that appropriate education is occurring must be submitted within 30 days. The evaluation must be accepted.
If the superintendent has a reasonable belief that any other provision of the home education program is out of compliance, he may send a letter, certified, return receipt requested, detailing the basis for his reasonable belief. The supervisor has 30 days to respond.
It is advised that everyone read the law and become familiar with all of its provisions and requirements. Direct knowledge of the law is each person’s responsibility.
Pennsylvania Home Educators Association 
Maryalice, do you have any thoughts about how this will affect evaluators’ responsibilities? For me, the new text (“The diploma shall be signed by the student’s twelfth grade evaluator in confirmation of the student’s suitability for graduation”) causes me to believe that I now have an additional responsibility. Prior to this, I understood my duty to be only to “verify whether or not an appropriate education” was occurring. By definition, I functioned under the belief that the student’s program consisted of “instruction in the required subjects for the time required” in Act 169 “and in which the student demonstrated sustained progress in the overall program” for that year only.
I appreciate any thoughts or advice you have.
The last line of the bill, “This act shall take effect immediately.”
When does this go into effect?