TO: Jessica Todorovich, Washington State Secretary of Health

FROM: Tanmay Kulkarni, Ansuya Somashekar, Angad Josan, Maya Frieder

DATE: June 8, 2025

RE: Immunization Requirements for Homeschooled Children in Washington State

I.               Executive Summary

Immunization rates in Washington K-12 schools are dangerously close to the community immunity thresholds for most vaccine-preventable childhood diseases. As the population of homeschooled children continues to rise, establishing a mechanism for monitoring and maximizing vaccination rates in the homeschooled population is crucial to preserving herd immunity.

To achieve this objective, the Washington State Department of Health, in conjunction with the Washington State Department of Education, should extend the immunization requirements and requisite exemptions currently enforced in public and private schools to families who elect to conduct home-based instruction in Washington State. This new requirement does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment right to parental autonomy and homeschooling, as the State does have a right to make reasonable regulations for any form of schooling. Case law additionally establishes a limit to parental autonomy in favor of baseline state regulation and public health concerns.

II.            Issue Background

Currently, Washington State does not have an immunization requirement for homeschooled children. To enroll in a public or private school, students’ families must submit records demonstrating that their child is up to date on their vaccinations or request an exemption. This system has maintained vaccination levels of 87.3-92.6% in Washington K-12 schools for the past 8 school years.[1] But without an immunization requirement for homeschooled students, it is impossible to track immunization levels in homeschooled children.

Vaccines operate through herd immunity, meaning that when the majority of a population has immunity to a disease, a susceptible minority remains protected. Although the community immunity threshold (CIT) varies between diseases, 90% immunization widely protects against vaccine-preventable childhood diseases.[2] Washington State K-12 immunization levels are currently hovering around 90%, making immunization rates in the homeschooled students statistically significant despite comprising less than 5% of the K-12 population.[3]

Coinciding with a national reduction in vaccine coverage, MMR immunization in Washington kindergarteners fell to 87.6% in 2024, well below the CIT of 92-94%.[4] The same year, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California all reported measles cases. So far in 2025, the number of nationwide measles cases is already 13 times higher than the yearly average from 2000 to 2010.[5]

Due to the lack of vaccination requirements for homeschooled children nationwide, little data exists on the percentage of homeschooled students who are fully vaccinated. In a 2011 study conducted in Pennsylvania, however, only 38% of homeschooling parents reported that their child was fully vaccinated.[6] Though the demographics of the surveyed community differ from those in Washington, this study reveals the potential of significantly lower levels of immunization in homeschooled children.

III.          Legal Question

Is the introduction of vaccination requirements for homeschooled students in the interest of public safety and in support of alternate educational choice, part of the constitutional mandate of Washington State, and does it constitute a breach of substantive due process rights to parental autonomy?

IV.          Legal Background and Statement of Facts

The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) section 28A.225.010 establishes the state’s recognition of “home-based instruction,” colloquially known as homeschooling. It establishes the key requirements for independent homeschooling in the state: the teaching of specific number of state-mandated subjects and basic qualifications for the parent supervising the instruction. [7]

However, there is no formal system for immunization requirements for homeschoolers in the State. RCW 28A.200.010 establishes the “duties of parents” and “exemptions from state learning goals, state learning standards, and high school assessments” in home-based instruction. It does not outline a reporting system for immunization requirements for homeschoolers. Immunization reporting is only required upon transfer to a public or private school, where immunization records must be “forwarded to any other public or private school to which the child transfers”[8] along with other educational details.

Key homeschooling groups and organizations identify Washington’s legal framework around immunizations for homeschoolers as nonexistent. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association stating there were no requirements at all,[9] while the Coalition for Responsible Home Education explicitly mentions that “students homeschooled under the homeschool law are not considered private school students and thus are not required to be immunized.”[10]

V.             Policy Recommendation

The Washington State Departments of Health and Education should expand the immunization requirements enforced in public and private schools to include children who are homeschooled. Immunization mandates in schools are low-cost and effective in raising vaccination rates, making them “the most efficient method of perpetuating herd immunity.”[11] Although medical, religious, and philosophical exemptions are not difficult to obtain, the opt-out nature of immunization requirements leads to widespread compliance.[12]

Without sufficient herd immunity, communities are vulnerable to disease outbreaks, which generate high costs, strain on the medical system, and human suffering. The majority of cases in the 1989 measles outbreak in the United States, for example, were unvaccinated kindergarteners.[13] Over three years, the outbreak “created $100 million in direct medical costs alone.” [14]

Without data on immunization rates in the homeschooled population, it is impossible to accurately determine Washington State’s progress towards the CITs of vaccine-preventable diseases. Expanding immunization requirements to encompass homeschooled students will encourage vaccination compliance, helping keep Washington above key immunity thresholds and preventing disease outbreaks.[15] Extending the exemption policy in tandem will reduce opposition from homeschooling families on religious and philosophical grounds, while allowing for more complete monitoring of immunization levels.

VI.          Legal Analysis

Article IX, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution establishes the positive right to education, stating it is “the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children.”[16] At the federal level, the Fourteenth Amendment protects the right to education, as interpreted by landmark decisions like Brown v. Board of Education.[17]

This constitutional mandate to support all students has often come into conflict with parental desires for school choice and independent education. The case that laid the basis for this expanded parental autonomy was the Supreme Court case Meyer v. Nebraska (1923). Meyer concerned the case of a teacher in Nebraska charged with teaching German to a student, which was illegal under a postwar state law banning foreign language instruction. The court held that the teacher’s “right thus to teach [German] and the right of parents to engage him so to instruct their children, we think, are within the liberty of the [Fourteenth] Amendment.”[18]

In doing so, Meyer established a substantive due process right to “to establish a home and bring up children”[19] as parents so choose. Crucially, however, the Court explicitly recognized “the power of the State to compel attendance at some school and to make reasonable regulations for schools.”[20] Simply put, there is a limit to parental interference in baseline state actions to regulate any school at which there is student attendance, which clearly includes a homeschool. Clearly, the introduction of vaccination requirements for homeschoolers is such a “reasonable regulation,” in service of state and federal constitutional requirements to support student education and public health.

Furthermore, vaccination requirements have been repeatedly held as a baseline exercise of the police power of a state, not a violation of Fourteenth Amendment as it is in service of the community. Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905) concerned the case of a compulsory smallpox vaccination law (stronger than the one suggested in this brief), and the Supreme Court held the law to be “necessary in order to protect the public health and secure the public safety.”[21] Individual liberties guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, the court argued, were still subject to police power. The court pointed to the legality of a wartime draft to protect the nation.[22]

The legality of limits to parental autonomy was further elaborated in Prince v. Massachusetts (1944). The Supreme Court held that “neither rights of religion nor rights of parenthood are beyond limitation,” and that the “right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease.”[23] Such a precedent is especially relevant in the case of homeschooling, where many families are motivated by religious reasons to choose home instruction as well as reject vaccination.

Therefore, introducing immunization requirements for homeschoolers would fulfill the legal mandate of Washington State to support its students and protect its community. Such a requirement is neither a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, nor the well-established substantive due process right to parental autonomy.

References:

[1] Washington State Department of Health, “School Immunization Dashboard,” Washington Tracking Network, accessed June 5, 2025, https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/washington-tracking-network-wtn/school-immunization/dashboard.

[2] National Network for Immunization Information, “Immunization Issues: Community Immunity,” May 23, 2006, http://www.immunizationinfo.org/immunization_issues_detail.cfv?id=26.

[3] Washington State Department of Health, “School Immunization Dashboard;” National Home Education Research Institute, “Research Facts on Homeschooling,” accessed June 5, 2025, https://nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/.

[4] National Conference of State Legislatures, “Routine Child Vaccination Rates Lower Than Pre-Pandemic Levels,” accessed June 5, 2025, https://www.ncsl.org/events/details/routine-child-vaccination-rates-lower-than-pre-pandemic-levels; Washington State Department of Health, “School Immunization Dashboard;” American Academy of Pediatrics, “Measles Vaccine,” accessed June 5, 2025, https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/measles/measles-vaccine/.

[5] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Measles: Data and Statistics,” accessed June 5, 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html.

[6] Elizabeth Thorpe et al., “Homeschooling Parents' Practices and Beliefs about Childhood Immunizations,” Vaccine 30 (2011): 1149–53, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.12.019.

[7] “Revised Code of Washington 28A.225.010,” Washington State Legislature, https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=28A.225.010.

[8] “Revised Code of Washington 28A.200.010,” Washington State Legislature, https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=28A.200.010.

[9] “Washington Homeschool Law at a Glance,” Homeschool Legal Defense Association, https://hslda.org/legal/washington.

[10] “Homeschool Immunization Requirements,” Coalition for Responsible Home Education, February 5, 2015, https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/research/current-policy/homeschool-immunization-requirements/.

[11] Anthony Ciolli, “Mandatory School Vaccinations: The Role of Tort Law,” Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 81, no. 3 (2007): 129-37, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2553651/.

[12] Michelle M. Mello et al., “Effectiveness of Vaccination Mandates in Improving Uptake of COVID-19 Vaccines in the USA,” The Lancet 400, no. 10351 (2022): 535–38.

[13] D.A. Henderson, F.J. Dunston, D.S. Fedson, et al., “The Measles Epidemic: The Problems, Barriers, and Recommendations,” JAMA 266, no. 11 (1991): 1547–52, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1991.03470110093039.

[14] Ciolli, “Mandatory School Vaccinations.”

[15] Ciolli, “Mandatory School Vaccinations.”

[16] “Constitution of the State of Washington,” Washington State Legislature, https://leg.wa.gov/media/o3fg0ey1/washington-state-constitution.pdf.

[17] Scott F. Johnson, “The 14th Amendment Protects the Right to a Public Education,” Purdue Global Law School, April 20, 2017, https://www.purduegloballawschool.edu/blog/constitutional-law/14th-amendment-protects-rights-education.

[18] “Meyer v. Nebraska,” Google Scholar, decided June 4, 1923, https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16175793893966768030.

[19] “Meyer v. Nebraska.”

[20] “Meyer v. Nebraska.”

[21] “Jacobson v. Massachusetts,” Google Scholar, decided February 20, 1905, https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16169198038706839183.

[22] Jacobson was invoked extensively in lawsuits during the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting the constitutionality of vaccine mandates (see Dixon v. De Blasio (2021) in New York, and Norris v. Stanley (2021) in Michigan).

[23] “Prince v. Massachusetts,” Google Scholar, decided January 31, 1944, https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3012582275354260465.