This report is maintained by the Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) and explores helpful information about growth in homeschooling in Texas and various counties and political districts across Texas.

Data for each school year is available from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) approximately one year after the end of a given school year. Data for the 2018-2019 school year was made available in the spring of 2020 and is the most recent data available. Data for the 2019-2020 school year will be available in the spring of 2021 and data from the 2020-2021 school year will be available in the spring of 2022.

As soon as new data for each school year is available, it will be published for public viewing through this tool.

Notably, the TEA only tracks homeschool withdrawals from public school between grades 7-12. The data does not account for students who withdraw from grades 6 and below or for the large number of students who began homeschooling without first entering the Texas public school system. As a result, numbers available through this tool are helpful as a partial picture of homeschool growth in Texas but do not provide a comprehensive view of homeschool growth in Texas.

The number of students withdrawing from public school to homeschool has averaged an annual growth rate of 6.5% between 1997-2019. The 2017-2018 school year saw a record-high number of students withdrawing to homeschool.

In the following year (2018-2019 school year), the number of students withdrawing from public charter schools declined, while the number of students withdrawing from traditional ISDs increased slightly. This resulted in a net decrease in 2018-2019 of the number of students withdrawing to homeschool compared to the high in the 2017-2018 school year.

The Coronavirus has resulted in a tremendous uptick in families choosing to homeschool nationwide. While currently available data makes this trend clear, this report outlines only the hard numbers available for homeschool growth in Texas from the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

Data from the TEA showing withdrawals to homeschool for 2020-2021 school year is not yet available. Homeschool withdrawal data becomes available from the TEA approximately one year after the end of each school year. As soon as it becomes available, it will be made accessible for viewing through this tool.

Early numbers indicate that the growth in homeschooling nationwide and in Texas due to Covid-19 is substantial. A recent survey from Real Clear Opinions found that 40% of registered voters were more likely to enroll their children in a homeschool or a virtual school after the coronavirus.

A survey from Gallup found that the number of families reporting their child would be homeschooled had doubled from 5% in 2019 to 10% in 2020. Applied to Texas, Gallup's data would translate to more than 670,000 homeschool students in Texas and more than $7 billion in savings to the state per year from students who the state was not paying to education in public school.

The Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) maintains an online tool at THSC.org where families can automatically generate a letter of withdrawal that can be used to withdraw their student from public school in Texas. This tool is a voluntary resource and is not used by all families who withdraw from public school to homeschool in Texas.

The number of families using this tool to withdraw from public school in Texas has skyrocketed. Compared to 2019, usage of this withdrawal tool was up 1700% in July of 2020, 400% in August, and 400% in September. While hard numbers showing the growth of homeschool withdrawals in Texas are not yet available for the fall of 2020, all available indicators point towards record-breaking growth. Once available, homeschool withdrawal information for the fall of 2020 will be viewable online through this tool.