News

Update regarding submitting birth certificates when filing the Affidavit of Intent to Home School

Maricopa County School Superintendent's office moving - New address as of June 28, 2006.

June 21, 2006

It has come to our attention that there has been a change of policy affecting filing the Affidavit of Intent to Home School with the Maricopa County School Superintendent's office.

Parents filing an Affidavit of Intent to Home School in Maricopa County will now be required to provide the child's certified birth certificate instead of a photocopy as they have accepted in the past. The County School Superintendent's office will make a photocopy of the birth certificate for your records and mail the certified birth certificate back to you. The parent has the option of hand delivering the affidavit and birth certificate to the County School Superintendent's office, if you prefer, allowing you to take the original birth certificate home after a copy has been made by the county school superintendent's office staff.

Arizona Revised Statute §15-802 does state that a certified copy of the birth certificate is to be submitted. Their lawyer has advised them to require the certified copy rather than accepting a photocopy as stated in the law. It is important to note that this is not a change in the law, but rather a change in their policy to be more consistent with the law as it is written.

NOTE: This policy is not retroactive. If you already have a copy of your child's birth certificate on file with the Maricopa County School Superintendent's office, you do not need to submit the certified copy at this time. The change in policy by the Maricopa County School Superintendent's office is for parents filing Affidavits of Intent to Home School from now forward.

The Maricopa County School Superintendent's office also has a new version of the Affidavit of Intent to Home School. They have looked at ours and it is acceptable for Maricopa County homeschoolers to use either one. The AFHE affidavit includes a privacy notice that the Maricopa County School Superintendent's office has not included on theirs. However, they have stated that they do not give out directory information from homeschool affidavits.

Also, please note, as of June 28th, the Maricopa County School Superintendent's office will be moving. Their new address is 4041 N. Central Ave. Suite 1100, Phoenix, AZ 85012. In addition, Maricopa County has a new Homeschool Liaison. Her name is Candace Cochrane.

We have contacted all of Arizona's County School Superintendents' offices to find out which counties require the original and which prefer a photocopy. This information can be found on the AFHE web site Resources page.

AFHE Board of Directors