Homeschooling continues to grow in Texas

New data collected by the Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) indicates that nearly 50,000 Texas public school students withdraw to homeschool every year.

THSC announced that although its previous reporting indicated between 20,000 and 30,000 students per year had left public schools to homeschool instead, the data was faulty as it had been based on the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) reports which “were only available for students between grades 7-12.”

According to the TEA, Texas had over 5.5 million students in public schools in the 2022-2023 school year.

The new data includes Texas public school students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, and prior reported upon, grades seven through 12.

As could be presumed due to its status as Texas’ largest county, Harris County ranks number one in the state with the highest number of withdrawals from public to homeschooling, according THSC’s interactive map.

During the 2022-2023 school year in Harris County, 4,750 students withdrew to begin homeschooling, a 13 percent increase as compared to the previous year.

Ranked second is Bexar County, having lost 3,118 public school students to homeschooling.

Tarrant County comes in third, carrying a total of 2,655 withdrawn students, an 11 percent increase from the 2021-2022 school year.

Denton is ranked not far behind Tarrant, accounting for 2,073 public school withdrawals.

“Many parents today are voting with their feet and finding alternatives to the government-run school system,” James Quintero, policy director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Taxpayer Protection Project, said to The Texan.

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s also understandable given that public schools cost too much, teach too little, and court controversy too often.”

Dallas resides in fifth place with 1,765 public-to-homeschool departures.

THSC reports that around 83,000 students left Texas public schools for homeschooling in 2020-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While COVID produced a high water mark for the number of students withdrawing, even post-COVID withdrawals have remained approximately 50% higher than before, indicating that high homeschooling numbers are likely the new normal,” THSC said in a press release.

Additionally, Texas public schools have had nearly 800,000 students withdraw to homeschool between 1997 and 2023, as found by THSC.

The map indicates Texas public schools had a total of 51,170 students withdraw to homeschool in the year 2022-2023.

“Families are fleeing public education because progressive activists continue to push politics in the classroom and promote extremism in the boardroom. And based on the data, many of them are escaping back into their living rooms—where things are normal,” Quintero added.