Pennsylvania Private Tutor Provision: Homeschooling Your Own Child With a Teaching Certificate

Most Pennsylvania homeschool discussions center on the Home Education Program under 24 PA C.S. §13-1327.1 — the affidavit, the portfolio, the evaluator review, the June 30 deadline. That statute applies to the overwhelming majority of PA home-educating families and is what most guides, support groups, and district offices are familiar with.

But there is a second, entirely distinct legal pathway that most Pennsylvania families have never heard of: the private tutor provision under 24 PA C.S. §13-1327. This pathway is available only to parents who hold a valid Pennsylvania teaching certificate. For those families, it is significantly simpler in terms of annual compliance obligations — and it operates under a completely different regulatory framework.

Understanding the distinction between these two statutes — and why a certified teacher parent might choose one over the other — is the purpose of this post.

What Is the Private Tutor Provision?

Pennsylvania's compulsory school attendance law at 24 PA C.S. §13-1327 contains an exemption for children who receive instruction from a private tutor. Specifically, the law provides that compulsory school attendance requirements are satisfied when a child "is being taught by a properly qualified private tutor."

Under Pennsylvania's interpretation of this provision, a parent who holds a valid Pennsylvania teaching certificate qualifies as a "properly qualified private tutor" and may satisfy the compulsory attendance requirement for their own children through private tutoring — without enrolling those children in either a public school or a Home Education Program under §13-1327.1.

This is not a loophole or a gray area. It is an explicitly acknowledged pathway in Pennsylvania school code, recognized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and historically used by a small subset of credential-holding parents.

What Does the Private Tutor Pathway Actually Require?

The compliance obligations under §13-1327 are substantially lighter than those under the Home Education Program statute. Under the private tutor provision:

No notarized affidavit. The Home Education Program under §13-1327.1 requires an annual notarized affidavit filed with the superintendent by August 1. The private tutor provision does not require this document.

No educational objectives outline. The §13-1327.1 affidavit requires an outline of proposed educational objectives by subject area. No such outline is required under §13-1327.

No portfolio. The Home Education Program requires maintaining a contemporaneous log, collecting work samples, and assembling an annual portfolio for evaluator review. The private tutor provision carries no portfolio requirement.

No evaluator review. The annual evaluator certification letter — one of the most administratively significant requirements of §13-1327.1 — does not apply under the private tutor pathway.

No standardized testing requirement. The Home Education Program requires nationally normed standardized testing in grades 3, 5, and 8. The private tutor provision does not impose this requirement.

What is required under §13-1327 is much simpler: the parent must report to the school district of residence that the child is receiving private tutoring from a qualified tutor, and must provide assurance that required health and medical requirements (immunization documentation, basic health screenings) are being met.

The report to the district is not a formal affidavit — it is a notification. The district receives confirmation that the child is not truant and is receiving instruction from a credentialed educator. That is the extent of the district's oversight role.

The Certification Requirement: What Qualifies

The pivotal requirement for the §13-1327 private tutor pathway is the parent's Pennsylvania teaching certificate. The certificate must be valid — not expired, not lapsed without renewal, not an out-of-state certificate.

Pennsylvania issues several certificate types that qualify a holder to teach in public schools:

• Instructional I (Entry-Level) — the initial certificate for new teachers
• Instructional II (Professional) — the permanent certificate issued after several years of successful teaching experience
• Emergency Permit / Letter of Equivalency — not a full certificate and does not qualify

The certificate does not need to cover the subject areas the parent is teaching at home. A certified elementary education teacher can use the provision to educate a high school student in mathematics, history, or any other subject. The certification requirement speaks to the parent's general qualification as an educator, not to subject-matter licensure.

Certification must be maintained. A parent who lets their PA teaching certificate lapse loses access to the §13-1327 pathway and would need to transition to a §13-1327.1 Home Education Program (filing the required affidavit and establishing the portfolio/evaluator framework) to remain in legal compliance.

How This Compares to the Home Education Program

For a certified teacher parent weighing the two pathways, the comparison comes down to compliance overhead versus coverage:

Private Tutor Provision (§13-1327):

• Simpler annual compliance — notification to district, health requirements
• No portfolio, no evaluator, no standardized testing
• No prescribed subject-area requirements in the statute
• Requires and maintains a valid PA teaching certificate

Home Education Program (§13-1327.1):

• Annual notarized affidavit by August 1
• 180 instructional days (or 900/990 hours)
• Specific mandatory subjects at elementary and secondary levels
• Annual portfolio (contemporaneous log + work samples)
• Standardized testing in grades 3, 5, and 8
• Annual evaluator certification letter by June 30
• Does not require a teaching certificate — a high school diploma suffices

For a parent who holds an active PA teaching certificate and wants maximum simplicity in ongoing compliance, the §13-1327 pathway is objectively lighter. The trade-off is that it requires maintaining the teaching certificate, which involves renewal cycles and continuing professional development credits.

For a parent whose certificate has lapsed or who does not hold one, §13-1327.1 is the correct pathway — and it is designed to be navigable by parents who are not credentialed educators.

Whether you are entering the private tutor pathway or the Home Education Program, the first step is the same: withdrawing your child from their current public school or cyber charter enrollment. The Pennsylvania Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers the withdrawal letter, district notification requirements, and how to handle the transition for both pathways — including what to say to the district when you are disenrolling without immediately filing a §13-1327.1 affidavit.

What the District Receives and What They Do Not

One of the most common questions from certified teacher parents is what the district will actually ask for when they report private tutoring status.

Under §13-1327, the district's role is limited. Upon notification that a child is receiving private tutoring, the district is entitled to:

• Confirmation that the tutor is properly qualified (i.e., that the parent holds a valid PA teaching certificate)
• Confirmation that health and immunization requirements are met

The district is not entitled to:

• A copy of the teaching certificate beyond confirmation of credentials
• Any curriculum description, educational objectives, or course plan
• Any assessment data, test scores, or student work samples
• Periodic home visits or monitoring

A district that oversteps — demanding portfolio documentation or evaluator certification under §13-1327 as though the family were operating a §13-1327.1 Home Education Program — is applying the wrong statute. The private tutor provision is a distinct legal pathway and the district's oversight authority is limited accordingly.

Transitioning Between Pathways

Families sometimes begin under one pathway and need to transition to the other. The most common scenario is a certified teacher parent whose teaching certificate lapses — at that point, the §13-1327 pathway is no longer available, and the family must shift to §13-1327.1 compliance.

Making that transition requires:

1. Filing the §13-1327.1 notarized affidavit with the district superintendent (mid-year filing is valid)
2. Beginning the contemporaneous log immediately
3. Establishing the portfolio framework for the current school year
4. Arranging for an evaluator review by the end of the school year (June 30 deadline)

The inverse transition — moving from §13-1327.1 to §13-1327 because a parent obtained or renewed a teaching certificate — is also possible. In that case, the family would notify the district of their intent to operate under the private tutor provision rather than the Home Education Program, and would cease the affidavit and evaluator obligations going forward.

A Note on Record-Keeping Even Without Legal Requirements

The absence of a statutory portfolio requirement under §13-1327 does not mean that documentation has no value. Even parents operating under the private tutor provision benefit from maintaining:

• A basic course log noting subjects covered and materials used
• Records of any standardized testing the family voluntarily administers
• A transcript framework, particularly for secondary students planning college applications

Colleges and universities that admit homeschooled students do not distinguish between §13-1327 and §13-1327.1 pathways — they look at academic records, transcripts, test scores, and application materials like any other applicant. A parent-generated transcript supported by a coherent record of the student's academic work is the foundation of a strong college application regardless of which legal pathway the family used.

Pennsylvania's private tutor provision is a real, legitimate, and significantly lighter compliance path for the subset of families who qualify for it. If you hold a valid PA teaching certificate, it is worth knowing that you have a choice — and that the choice is yours to make, not the district's.

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