Homeschooling in Texas

The first step is to look in your order to see who has the right to decide about your child’s education. If you do not have an order in place, there are no set rules about who can make these decisions.

This right can be given exclusively to one parent or can be shared jointly by both parents. This right can sometimes be given to each parent “independently,” which could get complicated if the parents disagree about the best school choice for the child. If the right is shared jointly, sometimes an order may state what to do if the parents cannot agree, such as choosing a third party who will serve as a “tie-breaker” or mediation.

To figure out who has the right to decide about education, look in the “Rights and Duties” section of your order. Talk to a lawyer if you need help understanding your order.

If the other parent has the exclusive right to decide about the child’s education, then that parent can choose to homeschool the child. If you disagree with this decision, you would have to go back to court to modify the order. Hire a lawyer if you need help modifying the orders, and the other parent disagrees.

Even if the other parent has the exclusive right to decide about education, they may still have a duty to inform you of their decision. If they take too long to tell you about the decision to homeschool, you may be able to file an enforcement action against them.

If you and the other parent share the right to make decisions about education jointly and still cannot agree, you may end up in court with a judge making the final decision about whether your child can be homeschooled. If this happens, the judge will make a decision based on the best interest of the child. The judge will consider many details about the situation and the child before making a decision. If you are homeschooling based on a desire to keep your child safe from COVID-19 or for other health reasons, a judge may consider this along with other factors regarding the child’s best interest.

Texas homeschooling requirements are general.

The first requirement for homeschooling in Texas is that school must be conducted in a “bona fide” manner. The homeschool cannot be a sham. The child should not stay home to get out of school, and the child must actually be taught at home.

The next requirement is that there must be a written curriculum, meaning that the student uses books, workbooks, or even written material on a video or computer screen. In addition, homeschoolers must teach children math, reading, good citizenship, spelling, and grammar. Science is not required.

No standardized testing is required. In addition, there are no requirements for the teacher (often the parent) to meet in terms of training or credentials. And homeschooled students do not have a certain number of days to attend school during the year.

Homeschool can look many different ways. Some parents do standardized testing, and some do not. Some children only stay home to do school, while others participate in lots of activities outside the home with other homeschooled children. And some children participate in online programs from home, while others may use books.

Unless your court orders say something different, “school” means the elementary or secondary school in which the child is enrolled or, if the child is not enrolled in an elementary or secondary school, the public school district in which the child primarily resides. See Texas Family Code 153.3101. This means that you will likely need to follow the calendar for the school district where your child would attend if they went to public school, even if they are homeschooled. A school district’s calendar usually appears on its website.

You may also want to go back to court to modify your order to clarify what school calendar controls when your child is being homeschooled or even to create a new visitation schedule that works best with your child’s homeschooling schedule. If you and the other parent agree to the modification, you can find forms and instructions at I need to change a custody, visitation, or support order (Modification).

If the other parent does not agree to the modification, hire an attorney to help you.

If the other parent has the exclusive right to decide about education for the child, they can pull them out of school to homeschool. If you and the other parent have joint power to make decisions about education, you would have to both agree about homeschooling. Occasionally, an order will have specific provisions about homeschooling, in which case you should follow what your order states regarding whether each parent can make decisions about homeschooling.

To figure out who has the right to decide about education, look in the “Rights and Duties” section of your order. Talk to a lawyer if you need help understanding your order.

Even if the other parent has the exclusive right to decide about education, they may still have a duty to inform you of their decision. If they take too long to tell you about the decision to homeschool, you may be able to file an enforcement action against them.

Check with the other parent. They may be able to give you a good description of how your child is doing academically and may even be providing yearly or regular testing to track your child’s progress, but state law does not require this.

Suppose the other parent is unwilling to give you this information. In that case, you may want to go to court to modify your order to require them to update you about academic progress if they continue to homeschool your child.

The Standard Possession Order gives both parents the right “to attend school activities, including school lunches, performances, and field trips.” Texas Family Code 153.073.

This can get complicated when the child’s school is conducted at home. One option to ensure that you can participate in your child’s activities—whether they are considered school activities or not—would be to modify your court order to give you a broader right to participate in your child’s activities.

Homeschooling is different from administering remote learning (through a public or private school) in your home. With homeschooling, the parent chooses the curriculum, whereas, with remote learning, the parent is only helping a child make their way through a curriculum provided by the public or private school.

The Standard Possession Order does not address homeschooling. If you want to create an order that addresses these issues, you should hire an attorney to help you draft the order. If you are getting your order through the Child Support Division of the Attorney General’s Office, you will not get a customized order. So if you want a custom order that addresses homeschooling, you will need to go through the district court instead.

Suppose both parents cannot agree about homeschooling issues when setting up the order. In that case, the judge will decide based on the child’s best interest and consider the details about the situation and the child before deciding.

Children who are six years old as of September 1 in a given year must attend school for that particular school year. It can be a homeschool, a public school, or a private school. Homeschools and private schools do not have to follow the compulsory attendance rules that public schools do, so homeschooled children do not have to attend school for any particular number of days during the year.

The Texas Family Code protects parents who homeschool by stating that CPS cannot use homeschooling as a reason to remove a child from their home (Texas Family Code 262.116(a)(1)) or as a reason for terminating a parent’s rights (Texas Family Code 161.001(c)).