Corpus Christi Sun

The percentage of Texas students being home-schooled full time more than doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the share of households home-schooling students in the state jumping from 4.5% to 12.3%.

The U.S. Census Bureau data on Texas reflects a similar nationwide trend, as the pandemic has accelerated the already significant growth of homeschooling in the past two decades. 

In House District 43, a 388% increase in home schooling for students in seventh to 12th grade was recorded between 1997 and 2019, according to Texas Education Agency data. That represents a 7.8% year-over-year increase.

This trend mirrors what has been happening in other districts around the state, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) reports. Education Daily Wire reported recently that over a roughly 20 year period, withdrawals from public schools to home schooling in Texas rose 228%, while at the same time public school enrollment went up only 41%.

In the 2018-2019 school year alone, the number of students leaving Texas public schools to be home-schooled stood at nearly 23,000, according to the TEA. And the Texas Home School Coalition expects the 2020 numbers to show that withdrawals from the public system to home schooling are continuing at a record-breaking pace, reports The Texan.

State Rep. J.M. Lozano (R-Kingsville), who represents House District 43 and is vice chair of the House Public Education Committee, did not respond to the Corpus Christi Sun's requests for comment on the topic. 

From 1999 to 2012, the home schooling rate in the U.S. doubled from 1.7% to 3.4%, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, and the majority of school withdrawals during the pandemic appear to be a result of increased homeschooling.

“Every one of my counterparts [in neighboring districts] indicated they have seen a decline in enrollment, and the majority of it is home school,” Eric Runez, who leads the Madison, Wisconsin, DeForest Area School District, said in an Ed Week article about the move toward full-time home schooling during the pandemic.

Runez said that his school has seen some enrollment decline due to students moving to private schools, but that the majority of enrollment loss seems to be to homeschooling. 

In Texas, a strong home schooling preference has surfaced among parents during the pandemic, according to Education Daily Wire. 

“COVID-19 has contributed a lot, probably not just in Texas but nationwide, to home-schooling numbers in general,” Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) spokesman Stephen Howsley told Education Daily Wire. “We did see a lot of parents who just decided it would be better, whether that be for their child's safety or health or for the flexibility, to instead move to home school.”

Howsley said that the level of freedom afforded home-schoolers in Texas in comparison to other states likely contributed to that fact. The lack of strict homeschooling regulation appears to be an acknowledgement of the fact no single method or approach works for everyone.

“A lot of people have realized over the years that a one-size-fits-all solution is not great when it comes to education,” Howsley said. “It really does vary based on each child and parents are looking for any possible way to make education more flexible, especially having multiple children.”