Harkness House as a NH Participating Agency: What It Is, How It Works, and How It Compares to Other Options

When New Hampshire families start researching how to legally begin homeschooling, they quickly discover the phrase "participating agency." The law requires you to notify a participating agency before beginning your home education program. What many families don't realize is that this agency does not have to be their local school district.

Harkness House is one of several NH private schools that have formally agreed to serve as participating agencies for home-educating families. For families who want to keep their school district entirely out of their home education program, Harkness House offers a legitimate, legal alternative. This post explains what that means in practice, how it compares to other agency options, and what you need to know about your rights under Ed 315.04 regardless of which agency you choose.

What Is a Participating Agency?

Under RSA 193-A:5, every family in New Hampshire must notify a "participating agency" before beginning a home education program. The agency receives your notification, acknowledges it within 14 days, and retains a copy. In some cases, the agency may be involved in annual evaluation — but only if you choose an evaluation method that involves them (such as the state assessment option). For all other evaluation methods, the agency's role effectively ends at the acknowledgment letter.

New Hampshire law defines three types of participating agencies:

1. The Commissioner of the NH Department of Education — the state-level option, bypassing all local district involvement
2. The Superintendent of the local School Administrative Unit (SAU) — the most common default, the local district's chief administrator
3. The principal of a participating nonpublic school — an approved private school that has agreed to accept home education notifications

The nonpublic school option is what makes Harkness House relevant.

What Harkness House Offers

Harkness House is a small private school based in New Hampshire that has formally registered to serve as a participating agency. Their participating agency service is designed specifically for homeschooling families who want to avoid public school district involvement.

When you use Harkness House as your participating agency:

• You submit your home education notification to them rather than to your local SAU superintendent
• They charge a nominal administrative fee (historically around $50, though you should confirm current pricing directly with them)
• They issue your acknowledgment letter
• Your local school district has no formal knowledge that your child is enrolled in a home education program

The privacy benefit is real and significant. Your school district's attendance records do not include your child. The district's special education office has no procedural hook into your program. The district's IHBG policy — whatever it says — does not apply to you because you are not reporting to them.

For families who have had adversarial relationships with their district, who have withdrawn a child from special education, or who simply prefer not to have any administrative connection to the local public school system, the nonpublic school agency option is often the cleanest choice.

Harkness House vs. NH DOE Commissioner vs. Local SAU: A Comparison

Each of the three participating agency types has different practical implications for your homeschool.

Local SAU Superintendent

This is the default choice and works well for most families in districts with reasonable IHBG policies. The superintendent's office issues the acknowledgment letter. Your family's home education status is recorded in district records.

Advantages: Free. Familiar process. Most NH families use this path without any issues.

Disadvantages: Your district has knowledge of your home education program. Some districts have policies that interpret IHBG in overreaching ways. District quality varies — some districts are helpful, others are bureaucratically slow or request non-required information. If you ever want your child to access district extracurriculars or sports, the relationship with the district is already established.

NH DOE Commissioner

Notifying the state commissioner bypasses the local district entirely, similar to a nonpublic school agency, but without a fee. The DOE office processes your notification at the state level.

Advantages: Free. Bypasses local district entirely. Useful for families who have moved recently and are unclear which SAU they fall under, or for families with mobile situations (military families, seasonal residents).

Disadvantages: Less community-level clarity. Some families find the state-level bureaucracy less responsive than a local contact.

Approved Nonpublic School (Harkness House and others)

Advantages: Highest privacy — no local district involvement. Nonpublic school agencies tend to be administratively efficient and focused on serving homeschooling families. Acknowledgment letters are typically prompt. If the school has an established process, the administrative experience is often smoother than dealing with an unfamiliar district office.

Disadvantages: Fee involved (typically $50). You are responsible for understanding what services are and are not included — the fee covers notification processing and the acknowledgment letter, not ongoing support, curriculum review, or evaluation services.

Ed 315.04: The Overreach Protection Rule

Regardless of which participating agency you choose, Ed 315.04 is the rule that protects you from having any agency — including a nonpublic school — impose requirements beyond what RSA 193-A mandates.

Ed 315.04 states that participating agencies "shall not propose, adopt, or enforce any policy or procedure governing home educated pupils that is inconsistent with or more restrictive than the provisions of RSA 193-A."

In plain terms: your participating agency cannot ask you for more than what the law requires. They cannot require:

• Curriculum pre-approval
• Regular progress reports beyond the annual evaluation
• Access to your portfolio during the year
• Demographic information beyond names, addresses, and birthdates
• Proof of parental educational qualifications
• Daily attendance logs

If any participating agency — your local SAU, the DOE, or a nonpublic school — requests information or imposes requirements beyond RSA 193-A's explicit provisions, you have the right to decline. Cite Ed 315.04 and RSA 193-A:5 directly. Keep a record of any such request in writing.

The Nashua school district is an instructive example: their office historically required demographic information (race, place of birth, home language) that RSA 193-A does not authorize. Following advocacy pushback, those requirements were removed. The law has always been on the parent's side — it just requires knowing what the law actually says.

When to Consider Switching Participating Agencies

Families can switch participating agencies. If you start with your local SAU and later decide you want more privacy, or if your district becomes difficult to work with, you can notify a new participating agency. Common reasons to switch:

• Moving to a new school district (you would update your agency automatically)
• Dissatisfaction with the local district's interpretation of IHBG
• Withdrawing a child from special education and wanting to avoid any district involvement
• Privacy preferences that have become more important over time

Switching is not a complicated process. You notify the new agency the same way you notified the original one. There is no formal "termination" process with the old agency — your legal obligation was to notify, and you fulfilled it. The new agency becomes your point of contact going forward.

If you are switching to avoid a district that has been requesting non-required information, document the requests you have already received. This documentation may be useful if the district ever asserts that you are not in compliance, allowing you to demonstrate that any gaps in communication were the result of them overstepping.

Practical Notes on Using Harkness House

If you are considering Harkness House or another approved nonpublic school as your participating agency:

• Visit their website or contact them directly to confirm their current process, fees, and response time for acknowledgment letters
• Confirm what documentation they require with the notification (typically names, addresses, and birthdates — nothing more)
• Ask specifically about acknowledgment letter format — request a letter on official letterhead if they issue acknowledgments by email
• Keep a copy of your notification submission and the acknowledgment letter permanently

The fee is worth it for families who value the complete separation from the local district. For families who do not have concerns about local district involvement and want the simplest free process, the local SAU or DOE commissioner route is entirely adequate.

The participating agency choice is one of the first decisions new NH homeschoolers make, and it shapes the administrative dynamic of your program from the start. Whichever agency you choose, knowing your rights under Ed 315.04 means you never have to accept requirements the law does not impose.

The New Hampshire Homeschool Portfolio Guide covers the participating agency system in detail, including a notification template, an acknowledgment letter filing checklist, and a plain-English summary of what each type of agency can and cannot require from you under RSA 193-A and Ed 315.

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