§ 16-19-2 Approval of private schools
– Requirements – Review. –
For the purposes of this chapter a private school or at-home instruction shall
be approved only when it complies with the following requirements: (1) that the
period of attendance of the pupils in the school or in the home instruction is
substantially equal to that required by law in public schools; (2) that
registers are kept and returned to the school committee, the superintendent of
schools, truant officers, and the department of elementary and secondary
education in relation to the attendance of pupils, and are made the same as
registers kept by the public schools; (3) that reading, writing, geography,
arithmetic, the history of the United States, the history of Rhode Island, and
the principles of American government shall be taught in the English language
substantially to the same extent as these subjects are required to be taught in
the public schools, and that the teaching of the English language and of other
subjects indicated in this section shall be thorough and efficient; provided,
however, that nothing contained in this section shall be construed or operate
to deny the right to teach in private schools or in at-home instruction any of
the subjects or any other subject in any other language in addition to the
teaching in English as prescribed in this section; provided, further, that any
interested person resident in any city or town aggrieved by the action of the
school committee of the city or town either in approving or refusing to approve
at-home instruction may appeal the action to the department of elementary and
secondary education. The department of elementary and secondary education,
after notice to the parties interested of the time and place of a hearing,
shall examine and decide the appeal without cost to the parties. The
commissioner of elementary and secondary education shall also grant a hearing
to any party aggrieved by a refusal to approve a private school pursuant to
§ 16-60-6(10). The decision of the board of regents for elementary and
secondary education shall, if an appeal is made to the board, be final.
(G.L. 1923, ch. 76, § 8; P.L. 1925, ch. 678, § 4; G.L. 1938, ch. 181,
§ 8; G.L. 1956, § 16-19-2; P.L. 1984, ch. 345, § 1.)