Maryland Homeschool 504 Plan: What Happens to Accommodations When You Withdraw

Your child has a 504 plan. It took months to get the school to evaluate, negotiate, and put accommodations in writing. Now you are considering homeschooling — and the first question is whether all of that work disappears the moment you submit a Home Instruction Notification.

The honest answer: yes, it does. But that does not mean your child loses everything, and it does not mean homeschooling is the wrong choice.

504 Plans Are School-Based Documents

A Section 504 plan is an accommodation agreement between your child and their public school. It is created under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by programs that receive federal funding. The public school receives federal funding. Your home instruction program does not.

When you withdraw your child from a Maryland public school and begin home instruction under COMAR 13A.10.01, the school's legal obligation to provide 504 accommodations ends. The plan does not transfer to your homeschool because there is no legal mechanism to make it do so. A 504 plan is not portable in the way that a medical diagnosis is.

This is not a Maryland-specific rule — it applies in every state. The 504 plan is the school district's response to a federal anti-discrimination mandate. Once your child is no longer enrolled, the mandate no longer applies to that district in relation to your child.

The Difference Between a 504 Plan and an IEP

It is worth clarifying the distinction because they generate different questions when families consider homeschooling.

A 504 plan provides accommodations — extended time on tests, preferential seating, printed copies of notes — but it does not create a legal right to specialized instruction. It is a modification of how material is delivered, not a commitment to individualized services.

An Individualized Education Program (IEP) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) involves the school actively providing specially designed instruction. Maryland homeschooling families with children who had IEPs face a different set of questions around "Child Find" obligations and the relinquishment of IDEA rights — that is a separate topic. For families with 504 plans only, the question is simpler: the accommodation agreement ceases when enrollment ceases.

What You Gain When You Homeschool a Child With a 504-Eligible Disability

Families often find that the need for a 504 plan in the first place reflects a mismatch between how the school operates and how their child learns — not a fundamental inability to learn. When you control the environment, schedule, and instruction method, many of the triggers that made accommodations necessary in school simply do not exist at home.

A child who needed extended time on timed tests in a classroom of thirty students may not need extended time when they are working through problems at a kitchen table with no external pressure. A child who needed preferential seating because of auditory distractions may have no auditory distractions at home. You become the accommodation.

This does not mean every child's disability disappears in a homeschool setting. But many parents of children with 504 plans report that homeschooling eliminated the majority of the functional barriers that triggered the plan in the first place.

What Maryland Does Not Require You to Document Regarding Disability

COMAR 13A.10.01 requires every Maryland home instruction family to provide "regular, thorough instruction" in eight subjects and to maintain a portfolio demonstrating that instruction. It does not require you to disclose your child's disability to your county. It does not require you to replicate accommodations that the school provided. It does not require you to obtain any evaluation, diagnosis, or certification to homeschool a child with a disability.

Your legal obligation to the county superintendent is to demonstrate instruction in English, mathematics, science, social studies, art, music, health, and physical education. That is it. How you deliver that instruction — including any adaptations you make for your child's specific needs — is entirely within your discretion as the home instructor.

What You Lose Access To: Evaluation and Testing Services

When a child is enrolled in public school, the district is obligated under IDEA's Child Find provisions to identify, locate, and evaluate students with disabilities who may need special education services. When you homeschool, the district's proactive Child Find obligation does not extend to your home-educated child.

However, Maryland parents of homeschooled children can still request an evaluation from their local education agency. Under federal law, a parent can make a written request to their school district asking for an evaluation of a privately educated child. Whether the district is obligated to act on that request — and what services they must provide if they do — depends on factors including the district's Child Find policies and whether the child qualifies for services.

Some Maryland counties are more cooperative than others in evaluating homeschooled children and providing limited services. Prince George's County and Montgomery County have their own policies around this, and families in different jurisdictions should contact their local special education office directly to understand what is available.

Re-Evaluating Whether You Still Need the 504 Diagnosis Documentation

Even though the 504 plan itself does not follow your child, the underlying evaluation and documentation does belong to your family. Your child's psychoeducational evaluation, any diagnoses in that evaluation, and any prior written notices from the school are records you have a right to obtain before you withdraw.

Request complete copies of all evaluation records before submitting your Home Instruction Notification. These records may be useful if:

• Your child later returns to public school and needs to be re-evaluated for services
• Your child applies for testing accommodations on standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, or AP exams — College Board and ACT both have their own accommodation request processes for homeschooled students
• You work with an outside evaluator or therapist who needs the school's prior assessments
• Your child eventually applies to college and needs to request accommodations from a disability services office

College Board and ACT do not accept 504 plans as automatic authorization for accommodations. They require their own documentation of disability and functional limitations. Having the underlying evaluation records is more valuable than having the plan document itself.

Documenting Your Homeschool Program for a Child With a Disability

Maryland county reviewers evaluate portfolios based on evidence of regular, thorough instruction in the eight required subjects. They are not evaluating your child's disability status, and they are not comparing your child's work to grade-level standards in the way that a school-based evaluation would.

For families homeschooling a child who previously had a 504 plan, the practical advice is straightforward: document what you actually do. If your child uses audio books instead of written texts for reading, that is still reading instruction. If they demonstrate science understanding through hands-on experiments rather than written reports, those experiments are still science. If health and PE happen through adaptive activities, those activities count.

Your portfolio should show the work samples, activity logs, and documentation that demonstrate instruction — not a particular methodology or disability accommodation framework. A reviewer looking at your portfolio is not cross-referencing it against a 504 plan because that plan no longer exists in the context of your home program.

The Maryland Portfolio & Assessment Templates at /us/maryland/portfolio/ include fillable logs specifically designed for all eight required subjects, including the non-core areas where documentation anxiety tends to spike. For families homeschooling a child who learns differently, having a clear and organized portfolio that covers all eight subjects is your most effective tool for a smooth review — regardless of any prior school accommodation history.

If Your Child Needs Specialized Instruction You Cannot Provide

Homeschooling does not mean you must provide every service yourself. Maryland homeschooling families regularly hire outside tutors, enroll in co-op classes, use online programs, and work with educational therapists. Costs incurred for outside instruction or therapeutic support are documented in your portfolio as evidence of instruction.

If your child's needs are significant enough that you are not confident in your ability to address them at home, that is a legitimate factor in whether homeschooling is the right choice — not a legal barrier to homeschooling, but a practical one worth honest assessment. For many families with 504-eligible children, homeschooling is precisely what removed the need for intensive support. For others, maintaining access to the school district's resources through enrollment is the more appropriate choice.

The decision belongs to you, and Maryland law does not penalize you for choosing either path.

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