The data, collected from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), also revealed that more than 83,000 students left the state's public school system during the previous two-year period (2020–2021) as families sought private alternatives. Due to data collection limitations by the TEA, enrollment numbers were available only for students in grades 7–12. The report captures only those students withdrawn for homeschooling, excluding those who enrolled in private schools or were homeschooled from the outset, bypassing the public school system. “After factoring in families who begin homeschooling without having previously been in public school, total new homeschool enrollment each year could be much higher,” THSC said in its Aug. 29 report. The trend of Texas families opting for homeschooling has been growing over the past two decades. Between 1997 and 2023, nearly 800,000 students left public schools for homeschooling, with the most significant increase occurring during the 2020–2021 school year, coinciding with restrictive pandemic policies such as mask mandates. “While COVID produced a high water mark for the number of students withdrawing, even post-COVID withdrawals have remained approximately 50 percent higher than before, indicating that high homeschooling numbers are likely the new normal,” the report says. This surge in homeschooling in Texas mirrors a national trend. The number of homeschooled students had been rising by an estimated two to eight percent annually, according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), but "grew drastically" during the pandemic. During the height of the pandemic, the THSC reported a 400 percent increase in parents withdrawing their children from the public education system. An interactive map published by the THSC shows that 11 counties recorded at least 1,200 withdrawals during the 2022–2023 school year. The top counties include Hidalgo (1,753 withdrawals), Montgomery (1,577), Harrison (1,508), Travis (1,400), Williamson (1,292), and Collin (1,212).More than 100,000 students were withdrawn from Texas public schools to be homeschooled during the 2022 and 2023 academic years, according to a new report from the Texas Home School Coalition (THSC).
