IAHE Action recently received questions related to the National Household Education Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau on behalf of the National Center for Education Statistics within the U.S Department of Education. Some homeschool families in Indiana have reported that they have received this survey as many as four times.
We asked Home School Legal Defense Association attorney, Tj Schmidt, if families are required to fill out the survey. He informed us that the National Household Education Survey form is not mandatory. The name changes a little bit from time to time but here is the general information about these types of questionnaires. Note that the long form listed in the link is mandatory.
According to the NHES website:
What types of questions will be asked?
First, all households are asked to answer some initial questions in order to help us understand their household characteristics. Depending on the characteristics of the household, some will receive additional questions asking about more specific experiences with young children’s care and education, students’ and families’ experiences with schools or homeschooling, or adults’ education and training.
I’m confused by this post. It says the form is not mandatory but the link called “here is the general information” leads to a page that seems to indicate that the survey must be answered under penalty of law.
The link was what was sent to us by our attorney to explain a bit about the large survey that some may receive. That one is mandatory. I think it’s good to note that not all of these types of surveys are optional.
If you go to the link for the short survey which is the National Household Education Survey, that one is not mandatory.