Homeschooling in Texas (2026): Laws, Numbers, Funding

Texas has no official homeschool count, because families do not file with the state. A parent who searches how many homeschoolers are in Texas will not find a registry.

A district clerk who codes a grade 9 exit as home schooling is recording a withdrawal, not a census. The sections below keep those two numbers apart, then cover the filing rule and the 2026-27 account.

How many homeschoolers are in Texas?

Texas has no official homeschool count for students or for families. The Texas Education Agency does not register home schools, so a Texas homeschool enrollment total does not exist.

Parents do not send a yearly notice. TEA says it does not regulate, index, monitor, approve, register, or accredit home schools. A signed withdrawal letter removes an enrolled child from a campus. That letter does not create a statewide roll.

Homeschooling has been a legal alternative in Texas since the 1994 Leeper decision. Compulsory attendance runs from at least age 6 until the 19th birthday, unless the child is exempt. Johns Hopkins reports that 21 states do not publish a homeschool count, and Texas is in that group.

National Home Education Research Institute, an advocacy group, estimated 3.408 million U.S. homeschool students in 2024-25. That national estimate is not a Texas file.

Why Texas has no official homeschool count?

Texas has no official homeschool count because the law does not make families file. Home schools sit under the private-school exemption, and TEA does not keep a registry.

Texas Education Code section 25.086(a)(1) exempts a child in a private or parochial school that teaches good citizenship. The Texas Supreme Court treated a bona fide home school as that kind of private school in Leeper. A district may ask for a letter of assurance only after it learns a child may be home schooled. Commissioner Mike Morath’s July 11, 2019 letter says that assurance is not required each year.

The state does not award a diploma to a home-schooled student. Kindergarten is not compulsory, so a child who never enrolls never enters a district file. Children taught at home from the start never appear in a withdrawal table.

TEA leaver code 60 is a withdrawal flow

TEA leaver code 60 counts public-school exits, not homeschoolers in Texas. The code means a grades 7-12 student left a Texas public school for home schooling during one year.

Annual leaver data cover grade 7 through grade 12 only. Districts can submit one of 19 exit withdraw types. TEA groups those types as graduates, dropouts, and other leavers. Code 60 sits with other leavers, so it is not a dropout code.

PEIMS allows code 60 only when a parent confirms home schooling under the parent’s direct supervision. A signed, dated parent letter must give the date home schooling began. A district may not use the code from a mere intent stated at withdrawal. The district does not have to prove that the home program meets a state standard. TEA warns that leaver records can count the same student more than once.

Grades 7-12 leaver records, 2022-23 to 2024-25

The latest Texas public school withdrawal to homeschool figure is 25,671 grade 7-12 records in 2024-25. That file is a one-year flow, and it misses younger children.

• TEA recorded 30,061 home-schooling leaver records in grades 7-12 in 2022-23.
• The same state table recorded 26,647 home-schooling leaver records in 2023-24.
• The 2024-25 state table recorded 25,671 home-schooling leaver records.
• Those records fell by 976 from 2023-24, about 3.7 percent. ChalkLens calculation: (26,647 minus 25,671) divided by 26,647.
• The same 2024-25 table recorded 6,177 exits to a Texas private school under type 81.
• Other leavers in that table totaled 75,957 records.

TEA last updated the 2024-25 annual leavers page in August 2026. The home-schooling row still excludes kindergarten through grade 6. It also excludes children who never attended a Texas public school.

Census Pulse and Johns Hopkins survey shares

Johns Hopkins, using Census Household Pulse data, calculates that about 6.28 percent of Texas K-12 students were homeschooled in 2023-24. That share is a survey estimate, not a TEA enrollment file.

The same calculation puts the 2022-23 Texas student share at about 5.95 percent. Johns Hopkins says the 2020 Pulse figures are household shares, while later figures are student shares. About 4.5 percent of Texas families homeschooled in spring 2020. That family share rose to 12.3 percent in fall 2020, a pandemic peak on the same page.

National Pulse data reviewed by Johns Hopkins put the 2023-24 U.S. student share at 5.92 percent. The Hub says it cannot build a Texas cross-sector chart because the state does not report participation. NHERI, an advocacy research group, lists a Texas range of 290,652 to 355,241 students as of spring 2022. News ranges such as 500,000 children are not a TEA file, so they are not the official count.

Texas homeschool requirements

Texas homeschool requirements come from Leeper, not from a homeschool license. Parents teach in good faith, use visual materials, and cover five subjects.

Texas has no separate homeschool statute that lists hours, days, or a state form. Instruction must be bona fide, which means genuine teaching rather than a sham to avoid truancy. The curriculum must be visual, so books, workbooks, video, or screen lessons can qualify. Purely oral teaching, with no written or visual materials, does not meet that test.

The five subjects are reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, and good citizenship. Texas sets no minimum school days and no minimum hours. The state does not require an attendance log or a portfolio review. House Bill 2674 added Education Code section 1.010 for the 2025-26 year. That section bars TEA and the State Board of Education from adopting a rule that regulates a home-school program.

Leeper and the private-school exemption

Homeschooling is legal in Texas because Leeper placed home schools inside the private-school exemption. The case name is Leeper v. Arlington ISD, decided in 1994.

The exemption text lives in Texas Education Code section 25.086(a)(1). A child is exempt when the school includes a study of good citizenship. The Texas Supreme Court upheld the lower court and treated bona fide home schools as private schools. The ruling does not create a TEA approval step before a family starts.

A district that hears of a home school may request a letter of assurance in writing. That letter can describe a curriculum aimed at basic education goals, including the five subjects. Parents do not have to bring the curriculum to the district office for review. Transfer credit follows the rule for an unaccredited private school under title 19, section 74.26(a)(2).

What parents file, and what they do not?

Parents file nothing with the state to start homeschooling in Texas. The only common paper is a withdrawal letter, and only if the child is already enrolled.

TEA’s FAQ says parents do not need to call the agency to say they will home school. A never-enrolled child can start without a district notice. An enrolled child leaves when the school receives a signed, dated parent letter. That letter should name the date home schooling began.

Parents do not have to appear in person to withdraw the child. The district may not demand a curriculum review as a condition of withdrawal. No yearly renewal notice goes to TEA after that letter. A later letter of assurance is a response to a district request, not an annual form.

Testing, subjects, and parent qualifications

Homeschooled students in Texas do not have to take a state test. The state also sets no parent degree and no teacher certificate.

Texas does not require an annual evaluation or a portfolio score. Parent qualifications are none: no diploma, no GED, and no teaching license. The course list stays at five subjects unless a later program adds its own rule. Science, history, and foreign language are not on that legal list.

The state does not issue the diploma, so a parent may issue a diploma and a transcript. Texas Education Code section 51.9241 covers admission after a nontraditional secondary education, including a home school. A public college must use the same general admission standards it uses for a public high school graduate. That college may not demand a GED solely because the applicant finished at home. If the college ranks applicants by class rank, it uses the average rank of applicants with equivalent test scores.

UIL access after SB 401

Texas homeschool sports access changed with Senate Bill 401. Districts must allow UIL activities unless the board votes to opt out.

Senate Bill 401 amended Education Code section 33.0832. The enrolled bill passed the Senate on April 28, 2025, by 23 votes to 8. The act applies beginning with the 2025-26 school year. A participating public school shall offer a non-enrolled student the same chance to try out. The board may adopt a policy that declines that chance, by the date UIL sets.

UIL set September 1, 2025, as the first opt-out deadline. Later status changes are due by August 1. If the zoned school opts out, the student may use the closest school that allows participation. The student must show residency the same way a district applicant shows it under section 25.001. For the first six weeks, the student needs a normed test score before the first day of school. That test is a league rule, not a rule for every home school.

Does Texas pay for homeschooling?

Yes. Texas pays through Texas Education Freedom Accounts, an education savings account, not through a parent salary. The account can cover approved homeschool costs if the child wins a funded slot.

Senate Bill 2 created the account program in the 2025 regular session. The Comptroller of Public Accounts oversees the accounts. Odyssey is the certified educational assistance organization that runs the portal. A child must be a U.S. citizen or lawfully present and eligible for a Texas public school. The parent must be a Texas resident. A child of an active-duty service member can qualify under that same eligibility rule.

A lottery places children when applications exceed the money on hand. Parents buy approved items only through the program marketplace. A funded student does not leave a homeschool registry, because Texas has no registry. The funded total mixes private-school students with homeschool and other students.

Texas Education Freedom Accounts award amounts

The Texas homeschool award is $2,000 for 2026-27. A private-school award on the same program is much larger.

• An awarded homeschool student receives $2,000 for the school year.
• The same $2,000 applies to a child who is not in public school or in a pre-K or kindergarten program.
• Education Code section 29.361(b-1) caps a home-schooled student at $2,000.
• A participating private-school student is set at $10,474 for 2026-27.
• The program site describes that private-school figure as 85 percent of the estimated statewide average.
• A private-school student with a disability may receive up to $30,000.
• That disability top amount also can apply in a participating pre-K or kindergarten program.
• The homeschool cap does not rise to the disability amount.
• Homeschool and other students received the full award on July 1, 2026.
• Private-school awards pay 25 percent on July 1, 25 percent on October 1, and 50 percent on February 1, 2027.

Recent Developments

The first Texas ESA cycle is already underway. Applications are closed, and the Comptroller has published a funded total without a homeschool split.

The parent application window ran from February 4 to March 31, 2026. The program site reports more than 274,000 applications, and it reports that over 100,000 awards have been made. Nearly 73,000 accounts received initial funding on July 1, 2026.

On August 13, 2026, Comptroller Don Huffines said funding had reached 101,600 students. He said that funded figure should rise as later awards clear. More than 100,000 students remained on the 2026-27 waitlist that day. The Comptroller called this the first program of its kind to fund more than 100,000 students in year one. Parents have four weeks after an award to opt in before the child counts as funded. An interest list is open for children who were ineligible for 2026-27.

Conclusion

Texas can tell a parent the rule. It cannot tell a parent the headcount. Home schooling is legal without a state filing. The only official series is a grades 7-12 withdrawal flow, latest at 25,671 records in 2024-25. A separate account can pay $2,000 in 2026-27. That funded list is not the missing registry.