Source: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/1508205042
Timestamp: 2018-10-15 16:13:43
Document Index: 735770731

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 402', '§ 404', '§ 402', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 1003', '§ 1003', '§ 1002', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 6', '§ 6', '§ 402', '§ 402', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 6502', '§ 6503', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 1717', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 1717', '§ 17', '§ 17', '§ 404', '§ 404', '§ 404']

SSA - POMS: PR 08205.042 - Pennsylvania - 06/15/2016
PR 08205.042 Pennsylvania
This memorandum is in response to your request for a legal opinion on whether The Southern Baptist Academy, which offers online high school courses via the Internet (http:/thesouthernbaptistacademy.org/), meets the definition of an educational institution under the Social Security Act (Act). [2] We believe that The Southern Baptist Academy online program is not an educational institution under the Act, and therefore, Brianna and Amy’s entitlements to child’s insurance benefits on the number holder’s account stopped once they reached 18 years of age.
The Southern Baptist Academy registrar certified that the information Brianna and Amy provided on the SSA Form 1372 was correct. The registrar also stated that the school’s course of study was at least 13 weeks in duration. Contrary to Brianna and Amy’s statement that The Southern Baptist Academy is based in Pennsylvania, however, the registrar sent the agency a letter on October 6, 2010, stating that the school is registered in Florida. The Southern Baptist Academy website provides conflicting statements regarding its location. On one page the website states, “The Southern Baptist Academy is an independent private Christian K-12 online homeschool program that is registered as a private school by the Texas Department of Education.” [3] (http://thesouthernbaptistacademy.org/accreditation.php) Elsewhere, however, the website states, “The Southern Baptist Academy is accredited by the National Association of Private Schools Accreditation Alliance and is registered with the Florida Department of Education.” (http://thesouthernbaptistacademy.org/faq.php#Is_the_Academy_accredited or_Licensed) Nevertheless, all addresses directing contact with the school are in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [4] (http://thesouthernbaptistacademy.org/faq.php)
The Sherwood, Arkansas, Field Office contacted the Florida Board of Education to ask whether The Southern Baptist Academy is registered in Florida. The Florida Board of Education stated that the school appears in their directory as located in Florida, but they did not have any information about the school operating as an online educational entity. [5] The Florida Board of Education indicated that it was possible that The Southern Baptist Academy operates an online school because the school can determine its own method of instruction. [6]
The Act provides for the payment of child’s insurance benefits to certain applicants over the age of 18 who are full-time elementary or secondary school (educational institution) students. [7] See 42 U.S.C. §§ 402(d)(1)(B), 402(d)(7)(A); 20 C.F.R. § 404.350(a)(5); POMS RS 00205.001(A). Under the Act, an educational institution is a school that provides elementary or secondary education, as determined under the law of the state or other jurisdiction in which it is located. See 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(7)(C)(i); 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a); POMS RS 00205.300.
Under the regulations, in order for a child to be eligible for child’s insurance benefits, she must attend a school that provides elementary or secondary education as determined under the law of the state in which the school is located. [8] See 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a). Participation in the following programs also meets the requirements of 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a): 1) a student is instructed in secondary education at home in accordance with the home school law of the State or other jurisdiction in which she resides [9] ; or 2) a student is a in an independent study secondary education program in accordance with the law of the State or other jurisdiction in which the student resides and that is administered by the local school or school district/jurisdiction [10] . 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a)(1), (2). Accordingly, a student may meet the requirements set out by 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a) if either the school itself is deemed an educational institution in the state in which it is located or the student’s curriculum qualifies under the law of the state in which the student resides.
We first address the question of whether The Southern Baptist Academy qualifies as an educational institution under the law of the state where it is located. 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a). There is conflicting evidence regarding where The Southern Baptist Academy is located. Thus, we will address the state laws of Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania because the regulations require us to consider the state laws where the school is located. [11]
Florida requires regular school attendance for children ages six through sixteen. Fla. Stat. § 1003.21 (2011). A child is in regular school attendance if she attends a public school, a parochial school, a private school, home education, or private tutoring. Fla. Stat. § 1003.01. Florida law defines a private school as a non-public school that provides instructional services and is supported in whole or in part by tuition charges, endowments, or gifts. See Florida Stat. §§ 1002.01, 1003.01(2), 13(c). The Southern Baptist Academy is a private school, as it is operated through the tuition of its students by a nonprofit organization, Learning by Grace, Inc. [12]
We next address the issue of whether The Southern Baptist Academy qualifies as an independent study program [13] under Arkansas law. 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a)(2). The regulations define an independent study program as an elementary or secondary education program in accordance with the law of the state or other jurisdiction in which the student resides which the local school or school district administers. 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a)(2). The POMS further define an independent study program as a program that local education agencies, such as high schools or school districts, run in accordance with specific state law requirements, where the credits earned count toward high school graduation. POMS RS 00205.285(A). Independent study programs involve periodic teacher contact, direction, and testing on campus, with the student making academic progress generally through independent study at home. Id.
In Arkansas, the Department of Education oversees and coordinates the implementation of distance learning, [14] which conducts independent study programs, in elementary and secondary public schools and promulgates rules and regulations to establish appropriate adult supervision in distance-learning courses. See Ark. Code Ann. §§ 6-47-201(a)-(b), 6-47-302(a). The Department of Education must approve all distance learning courses, including out-of-state course providers, before an educational institution may import those courses through distance learning. See Ark. Code Ann. §§ 6-47-201(c)(1), 6-47-302(b)(1); see also RGDL, Rule 4.01. [15] The Department of Education requires that all distance-learning courses have an appropriately licensed or approved primary instructor; [16] that an adult facilitator [17] must be present when student achievement assessments used to determine a student’s final grade are administered in a distance-learning course; and that all distance learning courses must comply with the Arkansas Standards for Accreditation. See RGDL Rules 4.02, 4.04, 4.05. The only representation that The Southern Baptist Academy program makes is that it is accredited by the National Association of Private Schools Accreditation Alliance. There is no evidence that the Arkansas Department of Education has approved The Southern Baptist Academy courses; that The Southern Baptist Academy has appropriately licensed or approved primary instructors; that The Southern Baptist Academy has an adult facilitator during student achievement assessments; or that The Southern Baptist Academy online courses comply with the Arkansas Standards for Accreditation. Thus, The Southern Baptist Academy does not qualify as an independent study program under Arkansas law.
C. PR 11-074 Child Insurance Benefits (CIB) -- Legal Precedence Opinion for Penn Foster High School – claimant Kyle – REPLY
The Penn Foster High School (PFHS) is a Pennsylvania online high school. We look to Pennsylvania law to determine whether PFHS is an educational institution (EI) for SSA purposes. Although Pennsylvania recognizes private Internet schools similar to the PFHS, the schools are considered to be the equivalent of correspondence courses. SSA does not recognize a student to be in full-time attendance based on taking correspondence courses even if the school meets the definition of an EI. In addition to attending an EI, a student must also meet federal full-time attendance (FTA) standards.
Even if we could consider PFHS to be an EI, a student’s scheduled school attendance must be at the rate of at least 20 hours per week unless certain exceptions apply. PFHS does not require a student to keep track of or report his or her time in attendance, nor did it provide certification of full-time attendance. Attendance at PFHS does not meet the federal requirements for full-time attendance, and we cannot establish entitlement to student benefits for a student at PFHS.
You have asked us to review whether Kyle , an Illinois resident, can be considered a full-time secondary school student, as defined under section 202(d)(7) of the Social Security Act, by virtue of his being enrolled at Penn Foster High School, a Pennsylvania online high school. For the reasons stated below, we believe that he cannot. However, you may want to develop further whether Kyle has an emotional/medical condition that prevents him from attending school for the 20 hours a week required to be considered a full-time student.
Penn Foster (http://www.pennfoster.edu) is an online high school based in Pennsylvania that offers students an opportunity to earn their high school diplomas at home with online courses. Its website indicates that in as little as nine months for each year of high school a student needs, a student can get his or her high school diploma through Penn Foster. It also offers the opportunity for a student to take only the class(es) he or she needs to graduate. It is licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools and accredited by the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools. Kyle has been enrolled with Penn Foster since August 20, 2008 and expects to graduate on August 20, 2011.
Kyle’s mother clarified that she does not home school Kyle, although she is available to help him with his Penn Foster coursework. In People v. Levisen, 90 N.E.2d 213 (Ill. 1950), the Illinois Supreme Court held that home schooling could be considered a “private school” if the person with custody or control of the child shows that he or she has in good faith provided an adequate course of instruction in the branches of education taught to the children of corresponding age and grade in public schools. Id. at 215. The court stated that the burden is not satisfied if the evidence fails to show a type of instruction and discipline having the required quality and character. Id. Kyle’s mother has advised that she is not home-schooling Kyle, and it is also not clear whether the Penn Foster curriculum would satisfy Illinois standards in any event.
Section 202(d)(1) of the Social Security Act provides that, under certain circumstances, a child of an individual entitled to old-age or disability insurance benefits, or of an individual who dies a fully or currently insured individual, shall be entitled to child’s insurance benefits (CIB). One of the requirements for CIB eligibility for a non-disabled child is that the child must be unmarried and either under 18 or a full-time elementary or secondary school student and under the age of 19. 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1)(B). For a child that was never under a disability, CIB benefits terminate when the child turns 18 years old if he or she is not a full-time elementary or secondary school student; and benefits terminate at age 19 regardless of the child’s educational status. 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1)(F).
Similarly, the regulations explain at 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a) that a person is a full-time elementary or secondary school student if he or she attends a school that provides elementary or secondary education, as determined under the law of the State or other jurisdiction in which the school is located.
The POMS likewise explain, at RS 00205.200(A), that an educational institution (EI) is a school that provides elementary or secondary education as determined under the law of the state or other jurisdiction in which it is located. The regulations further provide that participation in certain programs can also meet the requirements of paragraph (a), even if the school is not an EI. For example, a person is a full-time secondary school student if he or she is instructed in secondary education at home in accordance with the home school law of the State or other jurisdiction in which he or she resides. 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a)(1). In this case, however, Kyle was not being home-schooled.
Finally, the regulations define what it means to be a “full-time” student. In order to be considered a “full-time elementary or secondary school student,” the student must be in “full-time attendance” in a day or evening noncorrespondence course of at least thirteen-weeks duration and carrying a subject load that is considered full-time for day students under the institution’s standards and practices. 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(b). The regulations provide at 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(c) that a student is in full-time attendance if his or her scheduled attendance is at least 20 hours per week, unless certain exceptions discussed below apply.
Here, for purposes of determining whether Penn Foster is an EI, Pennsylvania law would appear to apply. Penn Foster represents on its website that it is based in Pennsylvania. Penn Foster is incorporated in Pennsylvania and is licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools.
POMS PR 08205.023 explains that Pennsylvania, generally, recognizes only one type of online school as an EI — cyber charter schools approved by and operating under a charter provided by the state’s Department of Education. Technically speaking, Pennsylvania does recognize private internet schools like this one and provides a licensing procedure for those schools. See 24 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 6502. Indeed, Penn Foster received its state licenses from the State Board of Private Licensed Schools. However, these schools are considered to be the equivalent of correspondence schools. See 24 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 6503(a). The Social Security Administration recognizes that, generally, a student is not in full-time attendance based on taking correspondence school classes, even if the correspondence school meets the definition of an EI. POMS RS 00205.330(B).
Here, in fact, it does not appear that “attendance” at Penn Foster would meet the federal requirements for full-time attendance, a requirement that Kyle has to meet even if Penn Foster could be considered an EI under Pennsylvania law. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a), (a)(1), (b), (c). The regulations provide at 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(c) that a student is in full-time attendance if his or her scheduled attendance is at least 20 hours per week, unless certain exceptions apply. The POMS also states that “[s]cheduled attendance must be at the rate of at least 20 hours per week.” POMS RS 00205.310.
In Form SSA-1372-BK (the Student’s Statement Regarding School Attendance), Kyle does not indicate the number of hours per week he is scheduled to “attend” Penn Foster. He simply states, “Internet.” Penn Foster’s website is vague. It simply states that in as little as nine months for each year of high school a student needs, he or she can have a high school diploma. Kyle’s mother advised that Kyle keeps track of how long he spends on his coursework, but Penn Foster does not require him to keep track of or report his hours. Under POMS RS 00205.295, the student should give Form SSA-1372-BK to a school official for certification and return it to the field office. If the school does not certify that the student is in full-time attendance, the claim should be disallowed. Here, the school’s chief academic officer did not complete the certification. Instead, she simply provided a vague letter which does not address the specific attendance questions set forth in the certification. Rather, she advised that the “program is conducted entirely by independent study.”
Although Penn Foster did not complete the required attendance certification and does not appear to require at least 20 hours of scheduled attendance, a finding of full-time attendance may still be justified if attending this school is the only reasonable alternative for Kyle, or if a medical condition precludes him from 20 hours of attendance. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(c)(1)-(2). It appears that Kyle does not meet either of these exceptions. Kyle’s mother stated that there are other high schools in the area that Kyle could attend. She further responded that Kyle does not have any medical conditions that prevent him from attending a public school, although he was not adjusting well in the traditional public school due to emotional problems. You may want to develop this further if you believe that Kyle may have a medical/emotional condition that is preventing him from attending school for 20 hours a week.
For the above reasons, we conclude that “attendance” at Penn Foster would not meet the federal requirements for full-time attendance. As such, we conclude that Kyle is not eligible for CIB based on his enrollment at Penn Foster High School. However, you may want to develop further whether he may meet an exception to the full-time attendance requirement based on a medical/emotional condition that may prevent him from attending a school for 20 hours a week.
D. PR 07-129 Reply to Your Request for Legal Opinion on "Does Freddie ' Cyber Charter Schooling Meet Requirements Under the Law of Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School (PALCS) provides secondary education under Pennsylvania law and is, therefore, an educational institution (EI) for SSA purposes. PA recognizes cyber charter schools approved by the PA Department of Education. If a student alleges attendance at a cyber charter school in PA other than PALCS, ask him or her for evidence that the PA Department of Education approved it. If the PA Department of Education has not approved the online school that the student attends, the adjudicator should follow the instructions in RS 00205.295 and GN 01010.815 to obtain a legal precedent opinion about its EI status.
Your memorandum inquired as to whether the cyber charter "home schooling" of Freddie qualifies him as a full-time student entitled to receive student benefits.
We have reviewed the information that you provided and have researched the relevant provisions of Pennsylvania and federal law. For your convenience, we have also cited relevant provisions of the Program Operations Manual System (POMS) derived from the federal law. It is our opinion that Freddie' attendance at the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School (PALCS), a cyber charter school approved by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, satisfies the federal regulation requirement at 20 C.F.R. § 404.367 for full-time attendance at a secondary program approved by the state in which it is located. We also believe that satisfies the regulation's requirement that he carry a subject load considered full-time for day students under the standards and practices of the school, and that he attend a non-correspondence course of at least thirteen weeks in duration for at least twenty hours a week. Therefore, we believe that Freddie satisfies all of the requirements set forth in the federal regulations at 20 C.F.R. § 404.367 for full-time attendance, and is entitled to receive student's benefits beyond attaining the age of eighteen, through the close of the school year in which he turns age nineteen provided that documentation of continued full-time attendance on Form SSA-1372 is obtained.
You indicated in your memorandum of February 15, 2007 that Freddie was born on December and reached the age of eighteen on December 11, 2006, when his child's benefits were terminated. You provided a Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) printout indicating that Freddie was receiving auxiliary benefits as a child of Frederick . Freddie reports his residence as Wyalusing, Pennsylvania. Our research assumes that Freddie was a resident of Pennsylvania during the time period relevant to his claim for benefits.
The information that you provided from the Pennsylvania Department of Education web site indicates that charter school applications are submitted to the local school district board of directors where the public charter school is to be located. See also Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 1717-A(c). The charter from the local school district is an agreement or contract between the school district and the charter school. Under the Pennsylvania law in effect for cyber charter schools when PALCS obtained a charter, the school district had the responsibility for approving and renewing charters of cyber charter schools and for oversight of the charter school. The school district was responsible for paying the charter school the increased "Selected Expenditures" for a special education student when the student has been identified as a student in need of special education services and has established an "individualized educational plan." You provided an invoice from the PALCS to the Wyalusing Area School District for Special Education provided monthly from September 2006 through January 2007 in the amount of $5,432.66.
You provided a Student's Statement Regarding School Attendance (Form SSA-1372) completed on December 6, 2006, by Freddie and Marilyn , Director of Special Education in the Wyalusing Area School District, Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, the school district in which Freddie resides, indicating that Freddie attends the PALCS thirty-five to forty hours a week, and that the present school year began on September 6, 2006, and will end in June 2007. The Form SSA-1372 also indicates that Freddie attended classes at Wyalusing Valley High School until September 6, 2006, when he began attending PALCS on the internet from home. You provided a documentation indicating the hours that Freddie was connected to the PALCS site from September 6, 2006, through January 10, 2007.
In summary, for purposes of our analysis, because Freddie, a resident of Pennsylvania, is attending a cyber charter school in Pennsylvania, that school must be approved to provide elementary or secondary education by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the jurisdiction in which the school is located. Freddie must also show that the school he attends considers him to be attending full-time based on the school's standards and practices for day students, including carrying a subject load considered full-time for day students, that he is enrolled in a course that is not a correspondence course of at least thirteen weeks' duration at the rate of at least twenty hours a week. 20 C.F.R.§ 404.367; see also POMS RS 00205.300 (What is Full-Time Attendance (FTA)) , RS, 00205.330 (Correspondence Courses) and RS0025.350 (Determining FTA).
Freddie Is Attending a School Providing Secondary Education As Determined by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Although the text of your memorandum inquired as to whether the Cyber Charter "home schooling" of Freddie meets requirements under the law of Pennsylvania" we believe that, notwithstanding the fact that PALCS is an internet school and can be attended by participating from home, there are significant features that distinguish PALCS from home schooling. Freddie' cyber charter school experience is distinguishable from home schooling (discussed in POMS at RS 00205.275) in that the Pennsylvania Department of Education approved cyber charter schools as public schools, the parent is not primarily responsible for teaching the student as evidenced by the description of the internet classes taught by teaches available in the PALCS Handbook, and the Wyalusing Valley School District's Director of Special Education, not the parent, signed as the certifying official on Form SSA-1372, Student's Statement Regarding School Attendance. Therefore, our analysis will focus on whether Freddie is attending a school that provides secondary education as determined under the law of Pennsylvania. 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a).
The most significant characteristic of PALCS for purposes of our analysis is that it is a creature of the General Assembly, the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The General Assembly enacted legislation in 1997 providing for a process for approval of charter applications for existing public schools or new schools. 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 1717-A. Effective July 4, 2004, the General Assembly included "cyber charter schools" in the definition of charter school. 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 17-1703-A. Moreover, the General Assembly, effective September 1, 2006, assigned the responsibility for approving, issuing, and renewing educational charters to the Pennsylvania Department of Education; that Department listed PALCS as a school that provides secondary education for the school year 2006-07. See 24 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 17-1741-A, and www.pde.state.pa.us. Further confirming the PALCS' status as an approved school is the Report of Contact that you provided, where Marilyn , the director of special education at the Wyalusing Area School District, stated that the cyber charter school is recognized as an accredited educational alternative by the Commonwealth, and that the Wyalusing district monitors Freddie' curriculum and educational goal attainment through regular meetings with parents. Therefore, the information that you provided indicates, in our view, that Freddie satisfies the federal regulation requirement of attending "a school which provides elementary or secondary education as determined under the law of the State . . . in which it is located." 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(a); POMS RS 00205.200A (What is An Educational Institution).
3. Freddie Is Attending A School that Provides a Full-Time Secondary Program and Is Considered by that School to be Carrying a Subject Load that Is Full-Time for Day Students.
According to your Report of Contact with Marilyn , on behalf of the Wyalusing Area School District, which pays PALCS for the Special Education services provided to Freddie, the school district considers Freddie to be in full-time attendance based on his verified attendance at the PALCS of well over forty hours a week. You provided a log of hours supplied by the PALCS indicating 454 hours of connectivity for Freddie from September 9, 2006 through January 10, 2007. Over this period of approximately fifteen weeks that the cyber school was in session, Freddie was online more than thirty hours a week. Your Report of Contact with Marjon of the PALCS indicates that these hours represent only the time spent online, and do not include intervening time spent offline doing examples, readings, and otherwise completing lessons. In addition, Marilyn indicated that Freddie' school day actually approximates eight hours.
With respect to the regulatory requirement at 20 C.F.R. § 404.367(b) that student is "carrying a subject load which is considered full-time for day students under the institution's standards and practices" we note that Marilyn monitored Freddie' course work and his educational goals, and signed a statement to the effect that he was attending school approximately forty hours a week. We believe that because she is charged with oversight of his course work, and approved his course work as well as certified that he was attending PALCS full-time, this action satisfies the requirement that a student carry a course load consistent with that of a full-time day student at PALCS. See POMS RS 205.350 (stating that SSA policy is to accept the school official's statement regarding full-time attendance).
Therefore, based on the information that you provided, we believe that Freddie has complied with the standards and practices expected of a full-time student who attends a Pennsylvania secondary school through December 6, 2006, the date that Marilyn signed the Form SSA-1372. We recommend that you obtain further documentation of Freddie' continued attendance since December 6, 2006 at PALCA on Form SSA-1372 .
4. Freddie is Enrolled in a Non-correspondence Course of at Least Thirteen Weeks' Duration.
We believe that the information that you provided, along with our additional research, indicates that Freddie is not enrolled in a correspondence course. According to the PALCS website, www.palcs.org, students who require Special Education are assigned to Special Education teachers who work closely with families to monitor the progress of students as they attend online classes. The teachers are in touch "constantly" through email and telephone calls. At PALCS live teachers provide instruction in the online classroom allowing students to attend class and do class work wherever they can connect to the World Wide Web. PALCS utilizes fully interactive technology that allows for live classroom instruction, interactive discussion online, and periodic conferences for students. Therefore, this interactive educational experience is significantly distinguishable from a traditional correspondence course described in the POMS as a school that teaches by mailing lessons and exercises to the student.
Moreover, another feature that distinguishes the PALCS from a remote correspondence course, is the fact, as Marilyn indicated in your Report of Contact on January 10, 2007, that the Wyalusing Area School District monitors Freddie' curriculum and educational goal attainment, and approves his coursework. This additional oversight and involvement of the local school district sets Freddie' educational program apart from a traditional correspondence course. Therefore, we believe that Freddie' PALCS experience is not that of a correspondence course as contemplated by the regulations or the POMS.
The information that you provided indicates that Freddie meets the requirement of enrollment in a course of study that is of at least thirteen weeks' duration. The POMS at RS 00205.315 (Duration of a Course of Study) clarify SSA policy that duration of a "course of study" refers to the entire course of study (e.g., a four-year high school program), and not the individual course offering or other segment of the entire course (i.e., a semester or summer session). Freddie' is enrolled in a secondary education school that contemplates a four-year course of study ending in graduation. See PALCS Handbook. Therefore, Freddie attends a course that exceeds a duration of thirteen weeks. Marjon indicated that Freddie is taking courses at the ninth grade level. The fact that he will not graduate from high school before turning age nineteen does not diminish the fact that he is enrolled in a course of study that exceeds thirteen weeks' duration.
5. Freddie Meets the Attendance Requirement in 20 C.F.R.§ 404.357(c) of 20 Hours a Week.
You provided a Form SSA-1372 completed by Freddie and Marilyn , Director of Special Education in Wyalusing Valley School District, indicating that Freddie attends the PALCS school thirty-five to forty hours a week. Because Marilyn , as a representative of the local school district, has oversight of Freddie' participation in the PALCS, we have no reason to question that this form can be relied upon to determine that Freddie satisfies the federal requirement of attendance of at least twenty hours a week. Furthermore, your report of contact with Marjon , an official of the PALCS, supports the information provided on the SSA-1372 regarding Freddie ' attendance of more than twenty hours per week. However, as previously noted, we recommend that you obtain updated information regarding Freddie' attendance on Form SSA-1372 for the period following December 6, 2006, when Marilyn signed the SSA-1372 that you provided to us.
We believe that because Freddie (1) is attending PALCS, a cyber charter school that provides secondary education and has been approved as such by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; (2) is attending PALCS full-time according to the school and the supervising school district and consistent with the Pennsylvania requirements for day students; (3) is not enrolled in a correspondence course; and because (4) his course exceeds thirteen weeks in duration; and (5) he attends PALCS classes in excess of twenty hours a week; he is entitled to student's benefits while attending the PALC charter school provided that he continues to provide satisfactory documentation of full-time attendance.
. Although the school’s website indicates that it is “registered as a private school by the Texas Department of Education,” we note that there is no Texas Department of Education. The agency that administers the state public education system in Texas is the Texas Education Agency. The Texas Education Agency does not accredit private schools. The Texas Private School Accreditation Commission (TPSAC) administers a voluntary registration and accreditation of Texas private schools. The Southern Baptist Academy is not registered with the TPSAC. (http://www.tepsac.org/search_school.cfm) In addition, the National Association of Private Schools Accreditation Alliance, the organization that accredits The Southern Baptist Academy, is not an approved accrediting agency. (http://www.tepsac.org/agencies.cfm)
. The Southern Baptist Academy is not listed in the Private School Directory that the Florida Department of Education maintains online. (http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org/Information/ PrivateSchoolDirectory) On November 9, 2011, we contacted the Florida Board of Education at 1-800-447-1636. A private school specialist verified that The Southern Baptist Academy had begun registration with the Florida Department of Education in December 2009, but was not currently in compliance with registration. The official indicated that the school had only submitted its annual survey online, but had not yet followed up with a hard copy in the mail. When the Florida Department of Education receives the hard copy of the annual survey, The Southern Baptist Academy will be added to the online directory.
. Here, Brianna and Amy are attending high school. Thus, we are addressing whether The Southern Baptist Academy provides secondary education.
. The evidence you provided does not show that Brianna or Amy were in a home school program while taking classes from The Southern Baptist Academy. Although the Southern Baptist Academy website references that it has a home school curriculum, it also describes itself as an accredited teacher-led academy (http://thesouthernbaptistacademy.org/how.php), which “is equivalent to sending [your child] to the private Christian school across town. The Southern Baptist Academy is recognized by colleges and school districts across the country as a private school, just like our ‘brick and mortar’ counterparts.” (http://thesouthernbaptistacademy.org/ accreditation.php).
. The evidence does not show that Brianna and Amy were in an independent study program. Independent study programs are run by local education agencies such as high schools or school districts, in accordance with specific State law requirements, and the credits earned count towards high school graduation. See POMS RS 00205.285(A).
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/1508205042
PR 08205.042 - Pennsylvania - 06/15/2016