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    Following an initial three months of exemption from compulsory attendance, the school district must request an extension from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) in order to continue to provide homebound instruction. There is no extension granted for a student that is not receiving homebound instruction unless it is determined that the student cannot profit from instruction. See 24 P.S. § 13-1329 and 22 Pa Code § 11.34 Laws and Regulations.

    For a student with a special education designation who is seeking homebound instruction, but is not designated as receiving Instruction Conducted in the Home, the school district must immediately report the homebound instruction using the Special Education Students @ Home (SES@Home) reporting system. Refer to the Reporting Special Education Students webpage for details. The SES@Home reporting system also is used for reporting students receiving Instruction Conducted in the Home.

    Form PDE-4675 is used to request an extension of homebound instruction for a student. The date of the doctor's reevaluation should be within two weeks of the continuation date in order to obtain an extension approval from PDE.

    Since there currently is no additional reimbursement for providing homebound instruction, there is no need to obtain permission from PDE to provide more than five hours of instruction or to provide homebound instruction in the summer. This is a local decision.

    The Request for Approval for Extension of Homebound Instruction now is to be filed with PDE electronically only, via email.

    Instructions

    • Download PDE-4675 - Homebound Instruction (Excel)
    • Consult the INSTRUCTIONS tab
    • Complete the CONTACT INFORMATION tab
    • Complete the EXTENSION REQUEST tab
    • Save your updates
    • Submit the completed Excel workbook to PDE from the superintendent's email (or copy the superintendent on the email) to ra-homebound@pa.gov
    • Retain a copy of the request and the source documentation (verification from the appropriate licensed practitioner) for an auditor's review. The PDE-4672 (PDF) may be helpful for this and can be downloaded.
    • Do not send attachments or doctor's letters; these are for the benefit of the school district. All justification for the school district's request to continue homebound instruction must be included in the Excel workbook, which is uploaded by PDE to a database. Please ensure that the explanation is sufficiently detailed to justify an extension.