What do you have to do and who do you have to contact to home-school your children in Louisiana?

The state offers two options for home-schooling: “registered nonpublic school” and home study.

For the first option, parents must provide the state Education Department with the school year and name, along with contact information and the number of students in the school. They must also submit an official letter or register online.

Students educated via this option are ineligible for TOPS, but eligibility can be gained if the children finish their final two years of schooling in home study.

For home study, parents must submit an application to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and they must seek BESE’s approval annually thereafter.

The initial application, which must be submitted no more than 15 days after home-schooling commences, must include the name, grade and school year of the child — along with a parent’s name and contact information and, for 11-year-olds, a statement on whether the child has received a meningococcal disease immunization. Parents must also submit a copy of the child’s birth certificate.

With their renewal forms parents must send BESE “documentation that provides satisfactory evidence that the home study program offered a sustained curriculum of quality at least equal to that offered by public schools at the same grade level,” according to the state’s application guidelines.

Education officials offer parents three documentation options:

• Curriculum packet — “complete, but simple” outlines of subjects taught or books used; a third-party statement on the child’s progress; “a small sampling” of the child’s work (“only 1-2 pages per core subject”); and a report card or standardized test scores.

• Standardized test scores — results from iLEAP, LEAP, End of Course, ACT, SAT, or the California or Iowa tests.

• Teacher statement — professional opinion of the course’s quality from an educator who is certified to teach at the child’s grade level.

“Students in a home study program are not required to take state assessments. Students in a home study program may participate in interscholastic athletic activities,” reads the state Education Department’s website.

“Diplomas awarded through an approved home study program are recognized by all post-secondary educational institutions.”

For more information, contact your local school system or the Education Department at 877-453-2721.

Online: www.louisianabelieves.com/schools/home-study.

City officials to see if sign a hazard

The sign on the northwest corner of the intersection of Kirkman and Cleveland blocks the view of drivers traveling east on Cleveland.

I thought that years ago, the church whose sign this is asked permission to put their sign on the corner and the city required them to install a low-profile sign that didn’t obstruct the view of drivers. If this recollection is correct, how is the current sign legal?

City officials said they will check the intersection to see if the sign — a quarter-century-old nonconforming use — compromises the safety of drivers looking to turn onto Kirkman from Cleveland.

“Nonconforming use” refers to something that predates current zoning ordinances.

Online: www.municode.com.

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098, press 5 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com

(MGNonline)