New data from the Texas Education Agency has revealed that more families in Texas withdrew their children from public schools in favor of homeschooling this past spring, compared to last spring.
“We fielded 1,702 inquiries from new homeschoolers this past August,” the Texas Home School Coalition said on its website. “That is below the August 2020 numbers (3,500 inquiries) and 2021 peak numbers (13,000 inquiries) but still within the range of pre-COVID August numbers, which averaged between 1,500 and 2,000 inquiries each August.”
While withdrawals rose 40% in the spring of 2021, the rates from the fall of 2021 and spring of 2022 will not be released until next year.
The data also found the rate of homeschooling families going back to public school has not increased. Additionally, it is thought that concern about safety and the school environment are primary reasons that parents choose to homeschool their children. Since the most recent data is from spring 2021, it is unknown how the mass shooting in Uvalde has affected homeschool enrollment, but there is often a spike in homeschooling after mass shootings.
Concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic were also a reason for the spike in homeschooling in recent years, according to 25ABC Central Texas. 2020 was seen as the largest surge in homeschooling in history, and most of those who started homeschooling because of COVID-19 have chosen not to go back to public schooling. That trend continued into 2021.
According to Texas Home School Coalition, there are roughly 750,000 homeschooled students in the state, which is more than the combined number of students in private and charter schools.