Pennsylvania Homeschool Supervisor Requirements: Who Can Legally Teach

One of the first questions parents ask when they start researching homeschooling in Pennsylvania is whether they are actually allowed to do it. Do you need a teaching certificate? A college degree? Any kind of educational credential at all? The answer to all three is no — but Pennsylvania does have requirements, and knowing exactly what they are (and what they are not) matters when you are filing your affidavit and interacting with a school district that may tell you otherwise.

What the Law Actually Requires

Pennsylvania's Home Education Program is governed by 24 PA C.S. §13-1327.1. This statute defines the person legally responsible for running the program as the "supervisor." The supervisor requirement is one of the most straightforward parts of an otherwise detailed law.

To serve as a homeschool supervisor in Pennsylvania, you must:

1. Be the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of the student
2. Hold a high school diploma or its equivalent

That is the complete list. A GED satisfies the diploma requirement. No college degree is required. No teacher certification. No prior classroom experience. No background in education whatsoever beyond having completed high school yourself.

The simplicity of this requirement is intentional. The Pennsylvania legislature, when it enacted Act 169 of 1988 and later revised the law through Act 196 of 2014, deliberately kept the entry bar low. The state's primary compliance mechanisms — the affidavit, portfolio, standardized testing, and third-party evaluator review — are designed to ensure educational quality without gatekeeping who can be responsible for that education.

What Is Not Required (But Sometimes Demanded)

Districts occasionally ask for credentials that the law does not require. This is worth knowing specifically, because a parent who is unfamiliar with the statute may hand over information they have no legal obligation to provide.

The following are not legal requirements for a Pennsylvania homeschool supervisor:

• A college degree of any kind
• A teaching certificate or licensure
• Completion of any training course or orientation program
• Prior teaching experience
• Approval or vetting by the school district

When a school district requests proof of a teaching degree or asks a parent to demonstrate instructional qualifications beyond the diploma, that request has no statutory basis. The affidavit itself includes the supervisor's information; there is no separate credential-verification process.

The One Credential-Based Alternative Path

There is a separate legal pathway for homeschooling in Pennsylvania that does hinge on professional credentials: the Private Tutoring option under 24 PA C.S. §13-1327.

This pathway is available when instruction is provided by a "properly qualified private tutor" who holds a valid Pennsylvania teaching certificate. A parent who holds a current PA teaching certification is legally permitted to use this option to educate their own child.

The Private Tutoring pathway has a significantly different compliance profile:

• No notarized affidavit or unsworn declaration required
• No portfolio maintenance requirement
• No mandatory standardized testing in grades 3, 5, and 8
• No year-end evaluator review

Instead, the certified tutor notifies the district of enrollment and provides written assurance that instructional requirements are met. The district receives no further documentation.

This alternative is only available to certified teachers. If you do not hold a valid PA teaching certificate, you are using the Home Education Program pathway under §13-1327.1 — and the supervisor requirements above are what apply.

What Happens If the Supervisor Does Not Have a Diploma

If a parent does not hold a high school diploma or its equivalent, they cannot legally serve as the supervisor of a Pennsylvania home education program. This is one area where the statute is firm.

In practice, this situation is uncommon but does occur. Options families in this position have used include:

• A co-parent, spouse, or partner who holds the diploma serving as the legal supervisor
• A legal guardian with the qualifying credential taking on the supervisor role
• Pursuing a GED to meet the requirement (Pennsylvania's GED program is administered through the PA Department of Education and is available to adults)

The diploma requirement cannot be waived by the district or by any other administrative body. It is a statutory condition.

Does the Supervisor Have to Be the One Actually Teaching?

The statute requires a supervisor, not a sole instructor. Pennsylvania's home education law does not prohibit a supervisor from using outside instructors, tutors, co-op teachers, or online course providers to deliver instruction. Many homeschooling families use a combination of parent-taught subjects and outside resources.

What the supervisor is legally responsible for is the program as a whole: filing the affidavit, maintaining the portfolio, ensuring required subjects are covered, arranging for standardized testing in the applicable grade years, and engaging the year-end evaluator. The supervisor signs the legal documents and bears the compliance responsibility. They are not required to personally deliver every lesson.

This matters for families who may have one parent who qualifies as supervisor and another who does the bulk of the hands-on teaching, or for families who rely heavily on co-ops and online courses.

How the Supervisor Is Represented in the Affidavit

When you file the required notarized affidavit with your school district superintendent's office, the supervisor's information appears on the document explicitly. The affidavit includes:

• The legal name of the supervisor
• The home address and telephone number of the program site
• A signed certification regarding the criminal history requirement (no disqualifying convictions under Section 111(e) of the School Code within the past five years)

The affidavit is a legal declaration. Signing it with false information — including falsely asserting you hold the qualifying diploma — subjects you to perjury statutes. The district is not required to independently verify the diploma at the time of filing, but the legal obligation to be truthful is real.

Pennsylvania's supervisor requirement is one of the most accessible in the country — a high school diploma is the floor, and it is low by design. The compliance complexity in Pennsylvania lies elsewhere: the annual affidavit, portfolio record-keeping, testing schedule, and evaluator process are where families most often run into trouble. The Pennsylvania Legal Withdrawal Blueprint walks through the full compliance sequence with ready-to-file affidavit templates, a first-year calendar, and a required subjects reference so you know exactly what you are committing to as a supervisor before you file.

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