Pulling a child out of a Pennsylvania public school is paperwork, not a negotiation. The order matters more than anything else: you file first, then you tell the school. This guide walks through the exact sequence families use to withdraw from school and homeschool Pennsylvania children legally — with copy-ready letter wording, mid-year timing math, and the truancy rules that stop applying the day you file.
Quick Answer
In Pennsylvania, you withdraw a child from school by filing a home education affidavit (or unsworn declaration) with the superintendent of your district of residence, then sending the school a short written withdrawal notice. Once the affidavit is on file, the child is legally enrolled in a home education program and attendance is no longer the district's concern. No district permission, approval, or sign-off is required. You can do this on any day of the school year.
TL;DR
- File the affidavit before you notify the school. Reversing that order can leave a gap of unexcused absences on the record. See the step-by-step sequence
- Your withdrawal letter is a notification, not a request. Four sentences is genuinely enough. Copy the sample withdrawal letter
- There is no approval step in Pennsylvania homeschool law. The superintendent verifies that your packet is complete, nothing more. Compare what's required vs. what's merely requested
- Mid-year withdrawal is legal, but the day count carries over. Days already attended in public school count toward the year's total. See the mid-year timing math
- The affidavit is not your only legal exit. Private tutoring, day schools, and cyber charters each work differently. Compare the four legal options
In This Article
- What Does Pennsylvania Law Actually Require to Withdraw?
- What Is the Exact Order of Steps?
- What Should the Withdrawal Letter Say? (Copy-Ready Wording)
- What Can the District Ask For, and What Can It Refuse?
- Can You Withdraw Mid-Year, and How Does Timing Work?
- What About Truancy, Absences and Dropping Out?
- Are There Alternatives to Filing the Affidavit?
- What Happens in the First 30 Days After You File?
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Does Pennsylvania Law Actually Require to Withdraw?
Two statutes do the work. Compulsory attendance (24 P.S. §13-1327) says a child of compulsory school age must be enrolled in some recognized instructional program. Act 169 of 1988 (24 P.S. §13-1327.1) creates one of those programs — the home education program — and makes the affidavit the trigger that satisfies attendance law.
A home education program is a supervised instructional program conducted by a parent, guardian, or qualified adult for their own child, established by filing an affidavit with the superintendent of the district of residence.
Compulsory school age in Pennsylvania now runs from 6 to 18, following Act 16 of 2019, which lowered the entry age from 8 and raised the exit age from 17. That change matters for withdrawal: an older teenager who once could have simply left school no longer can.
Who can homeschool Pennsylvania children under Act 169?
Under the statute, the supervisor of the program must be the parent or guardian (or, in limited circumstances, another adult approved to act in that role) and must hold at least a high school diploma or equivalent. There is no requirement to be a certified teacher, and no requirement that the district find you qualified.
Pennsylvania's affidavit is stricter than the one-page filings used in lighter-regulation states. If you have compared states before, it sits well above a simple notice of intent to homeschool in paperwork terms, because the affidavit arrives with attachments.
⚠️ This guide explains the general process, not legal advice for your situation. Statutes change. Confirm current requirements with the Pennsylvania Department of Education or a qualified attorney before you file.
What Is the Exact Order of Steps?
File the affidavit first, send the withdrawal letter second. Doing it the other way round creates a window where your child is unenrolled and has no filed program — which is exactly the window that generates unexcused absence letters.
- Confirm your district of residence. The affidavit goes to the superintendent where you live, which is not always the district the school building sits in. Get the mailing address from the district office directly.
- Assemble the packet. The affidavit or unsworn declaration, educational objectives by subject, immunization records or a valid exemption, evidence of required medical and dental services, and the criminal history attestation for adults living in the home.
- Notarize or declare. Pennsylvania accepts an unsworn declaration made subject to the penalties of 18 Pa.C.S. §4904 (unsworn falsification to authorities) in place of a notarized affidavit.
- Deliver with proof. Certified mail with return receipt, or hand delivery with a date-stamped copy. Keep that receipt permanently — it is your evidence of the filing date.
- Send the school the withdrawal notice. One short letter to the building principal or registrar, referencing the date the affidavit was filed.
- Close the loop. Request the cumulative record, return laptops, textbooks, instruments, and library books, and collect anything of your child's still in a locker.
Keeping copies of everything is not paranoia — it is the whole defence if a district later queries the timeline. A simple folder with the filing receipt, a scan of the full packet, and a copy of the withdrawal letter covers nearly every question that comes up later.
Once the packet is accepted, your attention shifts to what you must keep during the year. That is a separate body of work, and the Pennsylvania portfolio and evaluation checklist covers what the June deadline actually demands.
Key takeaway: The affidavit creates the legal program; the letter merely informs the building. File in that order and there is no attendance gap to explain.
What Should the Withdrawal Letter Say? (Copy-Ready Wording)
Four sentences covers it: who the child is, that the affidavit has been filed and when, the effective date of withdrawal, and a request for records. You are not asking for anything to be granted.
[Date]
To the Principal, [School Name]:
This letter is written notice that [Child's Full Name], date of birth [DOB], currently enrolled in grade [X], is withdrawn from [School Name] effective [Date].
A home education affidavit for this child was filed with the Superintendent of [District Name] School District on [Filing Date], establishing a home education program under 24 P.S. §13-1327.1.
Please mark the withdrawal as a transfer to a home education program and forward the cumulative record to me at the address below. Please advise what school property remains outstanding so it can be returned promptly.
Sincerely,
[Parent Name], [Address], [Phone]
Lines to leave out:
- Any request for permission. "I would like to request that..." invites a response you do not need.
- Promises about curriculum. You already filed objectives; do not offer a second, informal version.
- A signature on a district "homeschool agreement." Signing a local form can add obligations the statute does not impose.
- Reasons. Bullying, a dispute with a teacher, a diagnosis — none of it belongs in a withdrawal notice.
- Open-ended availability. Avoid "please contact me with any questions about our program."
If you want to see how the tone differs from a first-time filing in other states, compare this with sample notice of intent wording used elsewhere — shorter, but built on the same principle of stating facts rather than making requests.
Key takeaway: The withdrawal letter is notification, not application. Write it as a statement of fact and sign it.
What Can the District Ask For, and What Can It Refuse?
The superintendent's role under Act 169 is to confirm your packet is complete. There is no curriculum pre-approval, no interview requirement, and no mechanism in the statute for the district to reject a program that includes all required documents.
| Item | Required by Act 169 | Sometimes requested, not required by statute |
|---|---|---|
| Notarized affidavit or unsworn declaration | Yes | — |
| Educational objectives by subject | Yes | — |
| Immunization record or valid exemption | Yes | — |
| Evidence of medical and dental services | Yes | — |
| Criminal history attestation for adults in the home | Yes | — |
| Advance lesson plans or daily schedules | No | Occasionally asked |
| A district's own homeschool application form | No | Occasionally asked |
| In-person meeting with an administrator | No | Occasionally asked |
| Pre-approval of your chosen evaluator | No | Occasionally asked |
| Proof of a purchased curriculum | No | Occasionally asked |
Objectives are the field most people overthink. They are statements of what you intend to cover in each required subject — not a day-by-day plan, and not a contract you can be held to in June.
⚠️ Be cautious about signing any district-supplied homeschool form. A local form can commit you to quarterly check-ins or reporting that statute never required, and once signed it is awkward to walk back. Filing the statutory packet is sufficient; you can say so politely in writing.
If a district insists on something outside the statute, the most useful reply is a short, friendly letter stating what you filed, on what date, and that you believe the filing satisfies 24 P.S. §13-1327.1. Keep it in writing. Phone calls leave no record.
Can You Withdraw Mid-Year, and How Does Timing Work?
Yes — there is no window, no semester boundary, and no waiting period. A home education program can begin in October, in February, or three weeks before the end of the year.
What changes mid-year is the arithmetic. Parents who homeschool Pennsylvania students under Act 169 must complete 180 days of instruction, or 900 hours at the elementary level and 990 hours at the secondary level, as specified under Pennsylvania home education law, within the school year. Days the child already attended public school that year count toward that total.
Worked example. A child attends 95 days of public school before withdrawing in February. The family then needs 85 more days of home instruction to reach 180 by the end of the school year. Starting the count at zero after withdrawal is a common and entirely unnecessary mistake — it adds months of instruction nobody asked for.
Two things to get right at the start:
- Request the attendance total in writing when you collect the cumulative record, so your day count rests on the district's own figure rather than your memory.
- Pick days or hours and stay with it. Mixing the two methods mid-year makes the portfolio harder to explain.
The portfolio and the annual evaluation are still due by June 30, regardless of how late in the year you withdrew. A short February start does not shorten the documentation. If you are deciding between logging days and logging hours, this guide on how to track homeschool hours walks through both systems.
What About Truancy, Absences and Dropping Out?
Once the affidavit is filed, absences stop accruing. Truancy applies to a child of compulsory school age who is not enrolled in a recognized program — a filed home education program is a recognized program, so the attendance clock stops.
Habitual truancy is defined under Pennsylvania law as a set number of unexcused absences in a single school year; check current thresholds with the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Under Pennsylvania's attendance law, repeated unexcused absences can trigger a notice to the parent and may lead to a school attendance improvement conference., and districts generally must convene a school attendance improvement conference before proceeding to citations.
This is precisely why filing order matters. If you keep a child home for two weeks while assembling paperwork, those days are unexcused absences, and they can reach the truancy threshold before your affidavit ever arrives. Filing first makes the question moot.
Withdrawal to a home education program is also not "dropping out," and it is not recorded as one. The cumulative record reflects a transfer. Since Act 16 of 2019 raised the compulsory exit age to 18, a 17-year-old cannot simply leave school in 2026 — they must graduate, or be enrolled in another legal program, including a home education program run through to a parent-issued diploma.
Key takeaway: Truancy is about the absence of a filed program, not about where a child is sitting. File the affidavit and the issue disappears.
Are There Alternatives to Filing the Affidavit?
Pennsylvania recognizes more than one legal exit from a public school building, and the affidavit route is only one of them. The paperwork load varies sharply between them.
| Option | Paperwork load | Who oversees it | Typically suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home education program (Act 169) | Affidavit packet, portfolio, annual evaluation, testing in grades 3, 5 and 8 | Parent supervises; district verifies filing | Families wanting full control of content and pace |
| Private tutoring (24 P.S. §13-1327) | Tutor must hold Pennsylvania teaching certification; 900 hours of instruction per year | The certified tutor | Families able to fund a certified teacher |
| Day school or religious day school under §13-1327(b) | Enrollment paperwork set by the school; some operate as umbrella programs | The school | Families wanting an institution to hold the records |
| Cyber charter school | Public school enrollment forms | Still public school — state testing and attendance apply | Families wanting structure without leaving the public system |
Two distinctions people miss. First, private tutoring is not "hiring a tutor" in the everyday sense — the statute ties the option to Pennsylvania certification, and the obligations differ from the affidavit route. Second, a cyber charter is not homeschooling. You are transferring between public schools, so there is no affidavit, no portfolio, and no evaluation, but there is also no exit from state oversight.
Umbrella and day school arrangements sit in between: the school holds the compliance burden, and you follow its rules rather than the statute's. Families who want curriculum with external credibility behind it often weigh these against accredited online curriculum options before deciding which column they belong in.
What Happens in the First 30 Days After You File?
Your obligations shift from attendance to documentation, and they start immediately — not in September, not when you feel organized.
A home education portfolio is a log of materials used, dated samples of the child's work, a reading list, results of any required standardized testing, and the annual evaluator's written certification, covering the full school year.
The first-month checklist:
- Start the portfolio on day one. Keep a dated folder per subject from the first week rather than reconstructing June from memory.
- Book an evaluator early. Certified evaluators fill their calendars as spring approaches, and a late search narrows your choices.
- Check your testing year. Standardized testing applies in grades 3, 5 and 8, per Pennsylvania home education requirements.
- Decide your logging method — days or hours — and write the rule down.
- Keep a reading log from the start; it is one of the easiest items to lose track of.
Most families underestimate this part. The teaching is the part you chose; the record-keeping is the part that quietly consumes evenings, because every lesson has to be captured twice — once when you teach it and again when you write it down. That second pass is the piece that can be handed off. LearnSpark, a home education companion built around a proprietary learning algorithm, generates lesson records and progress notes as you teach, which can help reduce the work of rebuilding a portfolio in June — and the evening goes back to being an evening.
If you are also still assembling the actual school year, the full homeschool start-up checklist covers curriculum, routines and setup, while this guide to homeschool progress tracking focuses on keeping records you can hand to an evaluator without apology.
Key takeaway: In Pennsylvania, compliance is mostly documentation. Build the habit in month one and June stops being a crisis.
Summary
To withdraw from school and homeschool Pennsylvania children legally, the sequence rarely changes: assemble the affidavit packet, file it with your superintendent of residence with proof of delivery, then send the school a four-sentence withdrawal notice and collect the records. No approval is involved, mid-year withdrawal is permitted on any day, and truancy stops the moment a program is on file. What follows is a documentation year — portfolio, day count, evaluation — and the families who find it manageable are the ones who start recording from week one rather than week thirty.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does withdrawing to homeschool look bad on a Pennsylvania school record?
No. The cumulative record notes a transfer to a home education program, the same way it would note a move to another district. It is not recorded as a dropout or a disciplinary exit.
⚠️ Some districts are slow to release records. If weeks pass, send a second written request referencing the date of your first one and keep both copies — a paper trail resolves most delays quickly.
When can a student legally leave school in Pennsylvania?
Compulsory school age runs from 6 to 18 following Act 16 of 2019, so a 17-year-old cannot simply stop attending in 2026. They must graduate or be enrolled in another recognized program, which can include a home education program carried through to a parent-issued diploma.
Limited exceptions exist in statute for certain circumstances. Check current provisions with the Pennsylvania Department of Education before relying on one.
Do I need a notary for the Pennsylvania homeschool affidavit?
Not necessarily. Pennsylvania accepts an unsworn declaration made subject to the penalties of 18 Pa.C.S. §4904 in place of a notarized affidavit, and many families use that route.
Some districts still ask for a notarized version out of habit. You can reply in writing that the declaration is made under §4904 — or simply have it notarized, since it costs little and ends the conversation.
How long does the district have to respond after I file?
There is no approval window, because there is no approval. The superintendent may notify you if the packet appears incomplete, identifying what is missing, though Pennsylvania law does not set a strict response deadline. Silence generally means you are on file.
If you receive a letter questioning your educational objectives, respond in writing, restate what you filed and when, and supply only what the statute lists. Avoid rewriting your objectives to satisfy a preference that the law does not require.