East DFW News

Recent increases in the number of Dallas-Fort Worth families choosing home schooling reflects a larger, national trend that significantly accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, but health concerns are not the only factor driving the move.

In District 4, represented by Rep. Keith Bell (R-Forney), a 157% 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 4.6% year-over-year increase.

Forney did not respond to East DFW News' request for comment on the matter.

This trend mirrors what has been happening in other districts around the state, the TEA reports. The Education Daily Wire reported recently that over a roughly 20-year period, withdrawals from public schools to homeschooling 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.

Sarah Bogle, a mother who spoke to DFW Child about her decision to become a home-school mom, said her family’s move to home schooling resulted from of a long process of looking for a better academic fit for a daughter outpacing the public school curriculum.

“They should love learning,” Bogle was quoted by DFW Child. “They should love going to school. They should love doing projects.”

Bogle is far from alone, as parents faced with meeting the educational needs of their children during the pandemic turned in significant numbers to home schooling for academic as well as health reasons. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that between spring and fall of 2020, the number of U.S. households opting for home schooling increased from 5.4% to 11.1%.

“It should come as no surprise that more parents in all communities are choosing home schooling,” Erin Davis Valdez with the Texas Policy Foundation was quoted as saying by the Dallas Express. “With many schools not offering full time, in-person options, many parents saw the benefits in taking more of a direct hand in their children's education.”

The Census Bureau’s survey reported an even greater increase in Texas compared to nationally, as home-schooling households rose from 4.5% to 12.3% in the same time period, according to the Dallas Express. 

“There are a lot of home-schooling families there,” Stephen Howsley, a Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) spokesman, told Education Daily Wire. “We have one of our largest conventions each year in the Houston area. It draws a large crowd of home-school families looking for curriculum and workshops.”