The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is doubling down on a decision to bar all homeschool graduates from employment as correctional officers in Texas. This decision contradicts clear TDCJ policy going back nearly 20 years which explicitly states that homeschool students are eligible. The policy is still on the books today, but the TDCJ is choosing to ignore it.
At THSC, we believe that every family deserves the freedom to choose the best education for their children without fear of discrimination.
Unfortunately, homeschool families occasionally find that their graduates face barriers in the workplace. The law itself does not support such discrimination. However, sometimes, government officials don’t follow the law. That’s why THSC steps in.
In 2007, after several years of discriminatory practices, THSC worked with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to make their hiring policy inclusive of homeschool graduates.
The hiring policy in question, “Selection Criteria for Correctional Officer Applicants,” also known as PD-73, was amended in 2007 to recognize the validity of diplomas “from an accredited senior high school or equivalent” (homeschooling is “equivalent,” per the Texas Education Code).
The 2007 amendment also included a more detailed provision explicitly allowing for “a high school diploma or transcript based on home schooling accompanied by a signed affidavit in which the applicant affirms the completion of high school via home schooling.”
There is no doubt that these amendments were specifically intended to resolve discrimination against homeschool graduates. And in the current version of PD-73 (issued in 2015), this homeschool-inclusive policy has remained in place, exactly as it was written in 2007.
However, despite this policy having been on the books for nearly 20 years, the TDCJ’s actual hiring practices now appear to violate their own policy.
THSC was contacted in April 2025 by a homeschool family whose son was denied employment as a correctional officer, specifically because the TDCJ would not accept his homeschool diploma. TDCJ claimed that he would either need to graduate from an “accredited” homeschool program or earn a GED in order to be eligible for employment. In fact, this was the second homeschool family in 2025 who had informed THSC of hiring discrimination by the TDCJ.
The THSC Policy Team quickly intervened by sending a letter to TDCJ’s Staffing Department. THSC has long resolved similar issues of confusion with the TDCJ by citing the 2007 policy. THSC’s letter explained that there is no such thing as an “accredited” homeschool in Texas, as the Texas Education Agency clearly states that they “[do] not regulate, index, monitor, approve, register, or accredit the programs available to parents who choose to home school.”
The letter further explained that homeschooling has been a legal alternative to public school since the Texas Supreme Court’s 1994 Leeper decision, and that the Texas Education Code officially recognizes “successful completion of a nontraditional secondary education to be equivalent to graduation from a public high school.”
THSC urged the TDCJ to rectify the issue, as has been done for nearly 20 years. However, the TDCJ never acknowledged or responded to this letter.
About a month later, in May 2025, the THSC Policy Team sent a follow-up letter to TDCJ’s Staffing Department, reiterating the same points outlined in the initial letter and reinforcing the importance of addressing this issue.
Once again, this second attempt to reach the TDCJ was met with silence.
Therefore, in late May, THSC submitted an open records request to the TDCJ, as government agencies are required by state law to respond to such requests in a timely manner.
THSC’s request sought explicit clarification from the TDCJ as to whether the department “accepts and recognizes parent-issued homeschool high school diplomas as valid and equivalent to a high school diploma issued by a public school” and whether the department “requires that an applicant’s high school diploma be issued by an ‘accredited’ school or program in order to be considered for employment.”
A few days later, the TDCJ responded to the open records request with the following statement: “We utilize the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) standards for verifying home school eligibility. We do accept if CHEA approved with an affidavit. Yes, all schools must be accredited.”
This response confirmed that homeschool graduates were being systematically excluded from employment, because it is simply not possible for Texas homeschools to be “CHEA approved” or “accredited.” In other words, the TDCJ is setting standards for homeschoolers that are impossible to fulfill.
THSC then followed up on the open records request, asking the TDCJ to confirm whether PD-73—which includes the homeschool hiring policy originally adopted in 2007—is “still in effect as the governing rule related to eligibility for correctional officer applicants,” while quoting the relevant section on homeschool graduates.
The TDCJ replied with confirmation that PD-73 is still in effect.
TDCJ was insisting that homeschools must be “approved” or “accredited,” but they acknowledged that PD-73 was still governing policy. PD-73 explicitly states that homeschool diplomas must be accepted.
Soon after, in early June, a member of THSC’s Policy Team called the TDCJ Staffing Department and spoke with a supervisor to inquire as to whether they had received THSC’s two previous letters. The supervisor confirmed that both letters were received, but the TDCJ’s Office of General Counsel had determined that there was no need to act on THSC’s letters.
Therefore, THSC immediately sent a third letter directly to the Office of General Counsel. This letter recapped the situation up to that point, referenced the clear language of PD-73, and simply requested that the TDCJ comply with its own written hiring policy.
And for a third time, there was no response.
In July, the Policy Team called and emailed the Office of General Counsel. THSC sought to confirm receipt of the letter, while also requesting a meeting between THSC’s Vice President of Policy and the TDCJ’s General Counsel in order to discuss this issue.
After THSC sent another follow-up email, their office replied a few days later, asking for a copy of the letter THSC had sent and stating that they would bring the matter to the General Counsel’s attention. THSC immediately provided a PDF copy of the letter.
Subsequently, despite additional follow-ups, THSC did not hear anything back for several weeks.
Finally, on August 17, 2025, the TDCJ General Counsel replied to THSC as follows: “I am writing in response to your June 10th letter expressing concerns with TDCJ’s hiring practices. We have considered your position, but we are not recommending any changes to policy at this time and are declining any request to discuss this matter further.”
With the TDCJ still refusing to follow their own hiring policy, and with THSC’s numerous efforts at good-faith dialogue having been flatly rejected, we are forced to conclude that not only is the TDCJ discriminating against homeschoolers en masse, but that this is in fact the explicit purpose of their new practice.
The TDCJ is refusing to follow a two-decade-old hiring policy that is still on the books, and is choosing instead to require that homeschool graduates be “accredited,” something they know is impossible in Texas.
As a result, THSC is now escalating the issue to the TDCJ Board of Directors, the Governor’s office, and to numerous other elected officials, asking that they intervene and force the TDCJ to follow its own hiring policy and end its patently malicious and illegal discrimination against homeschool graduates.
You can read a copy of THSC’s latest letter here.
Government officials sometimes get the law wrong, but rarely has THSC encountered the level of blatant hostility as has been exhibited by the TDCJ’s terse refusal to comply with their own hiring rules and to give fair treatment to homeschool graduates.
THSC is here to stand up for homeschool families, challenge discriminatory practices, and fight for the right to a fair work environment where legitimate educational decisions aren’t held against homeschool graduates. By supporting us in this effort, you are Keeping Texas Families Free!
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is doubling down on a decision to bar all homeschool graduates from employment as correctional officers in Texas. This decision contradicts clear TDCJ policy going back nearly 20 years which explicitly states that homeschool students are eligible. The policy is still on the books today, but the TDCJ is choosing to ignore it.
At THSC, we believe that every family deserves the freedom to choose the best education for their children without fear of discrimination.
Unfortunately, homeschool families occasionally find that their graduates face barriers in the workplace. The law itself does not support such discrimination. However, sometimes, government officials don’t follow the law. That’s why THSC steps in.
In 2007, after several years of discriminatory practices, THSC worked with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to make their hiring policy inclusive of homeschool graduates.
The hiring policy in question, “Selection Criteria for Correctional Officer Applicants,” also known as PD-73, was amended in 2007 to recognize the validity of diplomas “from an accredited senior high school or equivalent” (homeschooling is “equivalent,” per the Texas Education Code).
The 2007 amendment also included a more detailed provision explicitly allowing for “a high school diploma or transcript based on home schooling accompanied by a signed affidavit in which the applicant affirms the completion of high school via home schooling.”
There is no doubt that these amendments were specifically intended to resolve discrimination against homeschool graduates. And in the current version of PD-73 (issued in 2015), this homeschool-inclusive policy has remained in place, exactly as it was written in 2007.
However, despite this policy having been on the books for nearly 20 years, the TDCJ’s actual hiring practices now appear to violate their own policy.
THSC was contacted in April 2025 by a homeschool family whose son was denied employment as a correctional officer, specifically because the TDCJ would not accept his homeschool diploma. TDCJ claimed that he would either need to graduate from an “accredited” homeschool program or earn a GED in order to be eligible for employment. In fact, this was the second homeschool family in 2025 who had informed THSC of hiring discrimination by the TDCJ.
The THSC Policy Team quickly intervened by sending a letter to TDCJ’s Staffing Department. THSC has long resolved similar issues of confusion with the TDCJ by citing the 2007 policy. THSC’s letter explained that there is no such thing as an “accredited” homeschool in Texas, as the Texas Education Agency clearly states that they “[do] not regulate, index, monitor, approve, register, or accredit the programs available to parents who choose to home school.”
The letter further explained that homeschooling has been a legal alternative to public school since the Texas Supreme Court’s 1994 Leeper decision, and that the Texas Education Code officially recognizes “successful completion of a nontraditional secondary education to be equivalent to graduation from a public high school.”
THSC urged the TDCJ to rectify the issue, as has been done for nearly 20 years. However, the TDCJ never acknowledged or responded to this letter.
About a month later, in May 2025, the THSC Policy Team sent a follow-up letter to TDCJ’s Staffing Department, reiterating the same points outlined in the initial letter and reinforcing the importance of addressing this issue.
Once again, this second attempt to reach the TDCJ was met with silence.
Therefore, in late May, THSC submitted an open records request to the TDCJ, as government agencies are required by state law to respond to such requests in a timely manner.
THSC’s request sought explicit clarification from the TDCJ as to whether the department “accepts and recognizes parent-issued homeschool high school diplomas as valid and equivalent to a high school diploma issued by a public school” and whether the department “requires that an applicant’s high school diploma be issued by an ‘accredited’ school or program in order to be considered for employment.”
A few days later, the TDCJ responded to the open records request with the following statement: “We utilize the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) standards for verifying home school eligibility. We do accept if CHEA approved with an affidavit. Yes, all schools must be accredited.”
This response confirmed that homeschool graduates were being systematically excluded from employment, because it is simply not possible for Texas homeschools to be “CHEA approved” or “accredited.” In other words, the TDCJ is setting standards for homeschoolers that are impossible to fulfill.
THSC then followed up on the open records request, asking the TDCJ to confirm whether PD-73—which includes the homeschool hiring policy originally adopted in 2007—is “still in effect as the governing rule related to eligibility for correctional officer applicants,” while quoting the relevant section on homeschool graduates.
The TDCJ replied with confirmation that PD-73 is still in effect.
TDCJ was insisting that homeschools must be “approved” or “accredited,” but they acknowledged that PD-73 was still governing policy. PD-73 explicitly states that homeschool diplomas must be accepted.
Soon after, in early June, a member of THSC’s Policy Team called the TDCJ Staffing Department and spoke with a supervisor to inquire as to whether they had received THSC’s two previous letters. The supervisor confirmed that both letters were received, but the TDCJ’s Office of General Counsel had determined that there was no need to act on THSC’s letters.
Therefore, THSC immediately sent a third letter directly to the Office of General Counsel. This letter recapped the situation up to that point, referenced the clear language of PD-73, and simply requested that the TDCJ comply with its own written hiring policy.
And for a third time, there was no response.
In July, the Policy Team called and emailed the Office of General Counsel. THSC sought to confirm receipt of the letter, while also requesting a meeting between THSC’s Vice President of Policy and the TDCJ’s General Counsel in order to discuss this issue.
After THSC sent another follow-up email, their office replied a few days later, asking for a copy of the letter THSC had sent and stating that they would bring the matter to the General Counsel’s attention. THSC immediately provided a PDF copy of the letter.
Subsequently, despite additional follow-ups, THSC did not hear anything back for several weeks.
Finally, on August 17, 2025, the TDCJ General Counsel replied to THSC as follows: “I am writing in response to your June 10th letter expressing concerns with TDCJ’s hiring practices. We have considered your position, but we are not recommending any changes to policy at this time and are declining any request to discuss this matter further.”
With the TDCJ still refusing to follow their own hiring policy, and with THSC’s numerous efforts at good-faith dialogue having been flatly rejected, we are forced to conclude that not only is the TDCJ discriminating against homeschoolers en masse, but that this is in fact the explicit purpose of their new practice.
The TDCJ is refusing to follow a two-decade-old hiring policy that is still on the books, and is choosing instead to require that homeschool graduates be “accredited,” something they know is impossible in Texas.
As a result, THSC is now escalating the issue to the TDCJ Board of Directors, the Governor’s office, and to numerous other elected officials, asking that they intervene and force the TDCJ to follow its own hiring policy and end its patently malicious and illegal discrimination against homeschool graduates.
You can read a copy of THSC’s latest letter here.
Government officials sometimes get the law wrong, but rarely has THSC encountered the level of blatant hostility as has been exhibited by the TDCJ’s terse refusal to comply with their own hiring rules and to give fair treatment to homeschool graduates.
THSC is here to stand up for homeschool families, challenge discriminatory practices, and fight for the right to a fair work environment where legitimate educational decisions aren’t held against homeschool graduates. By supporting us in this effort, you are Keeping Texas Families Free!
