Texas Homeschooling Overview
Educating relocating parents about Texas
Relocating parents sometimes ask our Realtors about Texas Home School Laws.
Here is Mark Hitz's commentary to relocating home buyers considering homeschooling their children in Texas.
There are many Texas, DFW Metroplex and local community homeschooling support group unofficial websites providing a wealth of information and curriculum advice. The Local List is below the TEA Letter. If you discover a local site that is very helpful, let us know so we can create a link.
In 1985 the Texas Education Agency (TEA is over all of the Texas Public Schools, Independent School Districts) blundered when they stated that home schooling was illegal since it didn't fall under the private school umbrella.
Major Hoopla. Parents arrested for truancy. Lawyers smelled money. Politicians smelled votes. TEA smelled manure hitting the fan.
The Lawyers filed a class action suit against every Texas Independent School District ISD.
The Results:
From my non-legal, non-political take of things, the courts decided that the Texas Education Agency TEA is only over PUBLIC schools, not home schooling, not private schools, not Christian schools, nor parochial schools.
There is very little on the TEA Website about homeschooling.
The TEA published this letter on Home Schools:
March 27, 2006
TO THE INDIVIDUAL ADDRESSED:
This letter provides information about parental instruction or "home schooling" in lieu of public school attendance. It is available to you as a courtesy. The Texas Education Agency does not regulate, index, monitor, approve, or register the programs available to parents who choose to home school.
For most of this century, Texas has exempted children enrolled in a private or parochial school from compulsory school attendance. In the case of Leeper et al. v. Arlington ISD et al., the Supreme Court of Texas affirmed a decision by District Judge Charles J. Murray holding that a school age child residing in Texas who is pursuing, under direct supervision of his/her parents, a curriculum designed to meet basic education goals is attending a private school within the meaning of Section 25.086(a)(1) of the Texas Education Code and is therefore exempt from compulsory school attendance. This case has a statewide application because school districts in the state and certain state officials were parties to the suit. A copy of the sections of the Texas Education Code related to compulsory attendance is attached.
The State of Texas does not award a diploma to students that are home schooled. In the event a home-schooled student wishes to enter a public school, most districts have policies and procedures in place to assess the mastery level of courses that students in home schools have taken. The results of the assessment may be used for grade placement and/or award of credit.
There may be several sources of information, materials, and books about parental/home education available in your community. Parents can obtain information from many different sources, some of which are found in your local libraries and on the Internet. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) does not recommend, approve, support, or endorse any person, educational program, group, or organization. As another alternative, interested parents may also wish to contact the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission, P.O. Box 12073, Longview, Texas 75607, www.tepsac.com for information about accredited private schools.
Persons interested in acquiring the state-mandated curriculum or Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) may purchase the document from the TEA Publications office. The document is all-inclusive; individual grades and/or courses are not available separately. To inquire about ordering the Curriculum/TEKS, you may contact TEA Publications at (512) 463-9744, www.tea.state.tx.us/publications/. The cost of the document changes periodically but is approximately $50.00 per copy. The publications office maintains publications only and does not respond to questions related to home schooling. THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT REQUIRED OF PERSONS CONDUCTING HOME SCHOOLING.
A Textbook Current Adoption Bulletin located at www.tea.state.tx.us/textbooks/ may be purchased (approximately $10.00 per copy) from TEA Publications; however, state-adopted textbooks can be purchased directly from the publishers. Please understand that a local school district is not required to provide textbooks nor to facilitate purchases. Textbooks purchased with public funds are to be used only by students enrolled in a public school.
If further information or assistance is necessary, please contact home school support groups or regional/state organizations on home schooling.
End of the TEA letter
note: you may have noticed we spelled homeschooling as home schooling at times in this article and it was intentional so that search engines will find our website. During our research, we have seen it written both ways so we figure parents will search both ways too.
- 818 Sycamore Creek Rd
- Allen, TX 75002-2247
- Phone: (214) 536-7250
- Gerri Hawes - Coordinator
- gehawes@sbcglobal.net
- Elementary Enrollment: 15
- Junior High Enrollment: 5
- High School Enrollment: 5
- Total Enrollment: 25
- Grade Levels: 1-12
- ACSI Member Since: 1995