New Rankings From Pro-Freedom Website Show Which States are the Friendliest Towards Homeschoolers

At the end of March, Simon Black and his team at the Sovereign Man released a ranking for the most friendly states for homeschooling families who also want to keep their tax burden low. 

This comes against the backdrop of a period where schools are closing left and right due to government lockdowns implemented in response to the Wuhan virus pandemic. As a result, parents are looking for alternatives to traditional public schooling. 

According to figures from Gallup, the percentage of children who participated in homeschooling is projected to increase twofold from 2019 to 2020. In addition, public schooling has witnessed a notable drop in enrollment during this period, going from 83% to 76%.

In the Sovereign Man’s post entitled “Lowest Taxed States and Homeschool Freedom 2021” outlined which states have lax homeschooling standards and the others that are hostile to the practice. 

For example, states like New York are notorious for high homeschooling regulations. Other states are known for being “no notice” with regards to homeschooling regulations. This is the freest option for parents who want to homeschool their children. Simply put, “no notice” states are those where if a family never enrolls their children in a public school, they don’t have to notify the state that they’re homeschooling.

Generally speaking, families who take their children out of public schools and transition them to homeschooling have to inform the state of this move. But in states without this requirement families don’t have to notify the state of anything.

States that don’t require this notification include:

  1. Alaska
  2. Connecticut
  3. Idaho
  4. Illinois
  5. Indiana
  6. Iowa
  7. Michigan
  8. Missouri
  9. New Jersey
  10. Oklahoma
  11. Texas

In “low regulation” states, a family has to register their intent to homeschool with the local school district right before the school year when a family’s child turns 6 or 7. These requirements differ among states, so homeschooling families will have to do their due diligence. That said, in “low regulation” states, there are very little regulatory requirements for homeschooling families.

States that feature “moderate” regulation have registration requirements, usually on an annual basis, in addition to testing requirements. States with “heavy” regulation usually mandate registration and testing, on top of the submission of a yearly syllabus that conforms with subjects that state education bureaucracies approve. What’s more, some states require proof of immunizations.

As the writers at the Sovereign Man note, “50% of US states are categorized as either “no notice” or “low regulation.” This presents a unique way for right-wingers to destroy the Left’s higher education conveyor belt. One of the strongest non-political moves that liberty conservatives can make is to pull their children out of public schools. In doing so, they will deprive the Left of malleable minds that are generally churned out as total zombies.

If the right is serious about political change, they would be promoting homeschooling as the pillar of education reform.

For more info on homeschooling freedom, the rest of the Sovereign Man’s piece can be read here