Each year, thousands of students withdraw from Texas public schools to pursue homeschooling options, according to data compiled by the Texas Home School Coalition.
The number of Texas public school students who withdrew to begin homeschooling skyrocketed during the first full school year of the COVID-19 lockdowns. More than 83,000 students withdrew during the 2020-2021 school year, up from 25,000 logged the previous year.
In each of the two successive school years, more than 50,000 students withdrew from public school to begin homeschooling.
“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,” the Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) said in a press release.
The data only accounts for students who have withdrawn from public school to homeschool. However, if families who began homeschooling without previously enrolling their child in public school were factored in, the homeschool enrollment rates would likely be much higher.
Harris County, Texas’ most populous county, had the highest number of public school students who withdrew to begin homeschooling in the 2022-2023 school year. That year, Harris County saw 4,750 withdrawals, a 13% increase from the previous school year, according to THSC’s data.
Bexar County ranked second for such withdrawals, clocking 3,118 during that school year.
Closer to home, Tarrant County ranked third after 2,655 students withdrew for homeschooling, an 11% increase from the year before.
Tarrant County’s biggest school district, Fort Worth ISD, has been making headlines in recent months following a number of poor student achievement outcomes.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker recently described the district’s performance as “unacceptable,” as reported by The Dallas Express. Parker called for a complete revamping of the school system after an analysis conducted by the Fort Worth Education Partnership found that only 6% of students at one economically disadvantaged campus met grade-level standards.
Denton County followed closely behind Tarrant County with 2,073 withdrawals; however, that number marked a 31% decrease from the previous year.
Dallas County ranked fifth across Texas. During the 2022-2023 school year, the county logged 1,765 withdrawals, a 3% decrease from the 2021-2022 school year, during which only 41% of students scored at grade level on their STAAR exams.
The vast majority of Dallas County students who withdrew to begin homeschooling were in pre-K through sixth grade. Ninth-grade students also withdrew at high rates, followed by 10th-graders and 11th-graders.
This year, Dallas County has seen overall enrollment rates begin to rise for the first time in nearly a decade, per DX. Dallas ISD had a nearly 2,800-student increase compared to last year’s enrollment numbers at this time of year, and enrollment is expected to increase throughout September.
Between 1997 and 2023, nearly 800,000 students withdrew from public schools in Texas to begin homeschooling, per THSC.
Relatedly, in a previous statement to The Dallas Express, James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation said:
“Traditional K-12 schools are hemorrhaging enrollment due to growing concerns over content, quality, and the politicization of the classroom. This steep decline is evidence that parents are ready for something different, something better.”