Sent:	Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:24 AM

Subject:	Home-Based Private Educational Program On-Line Data Base (HOMER)

Categories:	WEB


To - District Administrators and Persons Responsible for Compulsory School 
Attendance in School Districts

From - Merry Larsen, School Administration Consultant, Home-Based Private 
Educational Program

Subject - Home-Based Private Educational Program On-Line Data Base (HOMER)


NOTE:  This email is being sent to members of the open enrollment list serve.  
Please pass this email on to the person(s) in your school district who is/are 
responsible for enforcing compulsory school attendance. A separate list serve 
for HOMER users will be created in the near future.


As you may be aware, beginning with the 2010-11 school year, the PI-1206 form 
for the Home Based Private Educational Program is to be completed and 
submitted online.  The electronic form is currently available as a link on our 
Home-Based Private Education Program Website 
(http://dpi.wi.gov/sms/homeb.html).  The online PI-1206 form was operational 
as of September 1.

The online form requests the same information that was provided in the paper 
form.  If all sections of the form are not fully and accurately completed, the 
system will not accept the form.  Upon completion, parents will be able to 
print a paper copy, which will be very similar in appearance to the paper form 
they submitted in prior years. Parents are instructed not to mail copies of 
the form to DPI or the resident school district.

As with the paper form, a student will be considered officially enrolled in a 
home based private educational program at the time the electronic form is 
submitted.  Please note that, under current law, parents who wish to home 
school their children must submit the PI-1206 form on or before October 15.  
However, if a parent wishes to withdraw their child from a public or private 
school after October 15, they will still be able to enroll the student in a 
home based program using the online form.

Copies of paper forms will no longer be sent to school districts.  Instead, 
once the HOMER system is operational, each school district will have access to 
the electronic PI-1206 information filed for residents of the district.  The 
URL for the data base is https://www2.dpi.state.wi.us/HomeSchoolDPI.

ACCESS TO HOMER:

Although the HOMER data pages that will be used by school districts aren't 
operational yet (we will send a notice), districts may begin now to authorize 
users for the system.

School district staff will be authorized for HOMER using the same User 
Administration Site that controls access to OPAL, the open enrollment online 
database, as follows:

Each school district administrator already has an id and password to enter the 
User Administration Site and is already authorized to access the HOMER system. 
(If the district administrator has lost her/his password, please contact Mary 
Jo Cleaver or Merry Larsen to reset it.)

To authorize additional users, the district administrator should do the 
following:

Go to https://www2.dpi.state.wi.us/CMM/ and sign in.

The district administrator's name will appear on the page, which will also 
probably have the names of other persons in the district who are authorized to 
use OPAL.

If any person already listed is to be given access to HOMER, click on Edit to 
the right of the person's name.  In the column labeled "Allow access to the 
following applications," click on "Homeschooling (HOMER)." Save. This person 
will now be able to enter the HOMER system using the same id and password used 
for OPAL.

If you wish to authorize an additional person(s) for HOMER, click on Add New 
User.  Enter the person's information on the page.  In the column labeled 
"Allow access to the following applications," click on "Homeschooling 
(HOMER)."   Save.  A page will appear with a userid and password for the 
person.  Print this page and give it to the person to memorize and/or keep in 
a safe place.  This is the only time the written password will appear.  If it 
is lost, it must be reset.

If you have any questions about using HOMER, please contact Diane Sullivan, 
diane.sullivan@dpi.wi.gov, 608-267-9248;  Merry Larsen, 
merry.larsen@dpi.wi.gov, 608-266-2146; or Mary Jo Cleaver, 
maryjo.cleaver@dpi.wi.gov, 608-267-9101.

(Note: Diane Sullivan is out of the office until September 7, 2010.)

Merry Larsen
Home-Base Private School Consultant
Department of Public Instruction
608-266-2146 or toll-free 888-245-2732
fax:  608-267-9207
email: merry.larsen@dpi.wi.gov
website: http://dpi.wi.gov/sms/psctoc.html