Homeschooling in Nebraska

File with NDE first, then withdraw. Instruction at home can begin once NDE has your submission, and NDE advises withdrawing your child only after that, with a word to the school beforehand. NDE tells your resident district for you; the district sees a report of every family in it that has filed.

Choose one filing method. The online system at exemptschool.education.ne.gov is the fastest and emails the acknowledgement letter as soon as you submit. A paper filing goes by mail or is dropped off at NDE in Lincoln; NDE takes no filings by email or fax. The letter acknowledges your election, since NDE does not approve or reject exempt schools. Keep it to show your school's status later.

Starting in the middle of the year

A midyear filing is allowed at any time. Count the hours your child already had at school, then plan enough home instruction to reach the yearly total. If your child attends another district through the enrollment option program, show that district your acknowledgement letter and cancel the option yourself, since NDE notifies only your district of residence.

One limit applies during a child abuse or neglect investigation. If the Department of Health and Human Services sends a hold notice for the child, a new exempt school election is invalid for 14 days after the notice or until the department lifts it, whichever comes first.

What you promise when you sign

The assurances cover more than subjects and hours. Your school must meet state health, fire, and safety standards, report attendance, and keep the sequential program going. Each family's parent signs a statement, so a school may teach children from more than one family; the parent representative gathers the statements and files them together.

Nebraska's rules say nothing about keeping or retaining records. The one record the law expects you to hold is your child's immunization record, if you filed for nonreligious reasons. NDE advises keeping attendance data and, for each child, a transcript of classes taken with grades.

A simple yearly file covers what anyone later asks for: your acknowledgement letter, an hours log, a list of subjects and main materials, a few work samples, and from ninth grade on, each course with its grade and credit. A public school uses it when your child enrolls, and colleges read the transcript you write.

NDE keeps your child's birth certificate from the first filing, so you do not send it again each year. If you stop filing for five school years, NDE no longer has it, and you send it again with your next filing. A certified copy has a stamped or raised seal from a vital records office; a hospital birth record or notarized photocopy does not qualify. NDE returns a mailed original after scanning it.

Nebraska requires no tests for exempt school students. The statewide assessment law applies only to school districts, and the state may not use achievement testing of exempt school students to measure, compare, or evaluate their competency.

Testing is your choice. Some families use a test to see where a child stands, especially before a return to public school or for a college application. Your resident district may have testing materials it is willing to share, but it has no duty to give your child a test.

Federal law requires every school district to locate and evaluate children with disabilities who live in it, homeschooled children included. This duty is called Child Find. To start, ask your resident public school in writing for an evaluation. NDE sends families to the resident school to learn which special education services a homeschooled child may receive and how they would be provided.

Part-time enrollment

Every school board must allow part-time enrollment, in all courses your child selects, for an exempt school student who lives in the district or is admitted to it, and must set policies for it. Your child follows school rules while on school grounds. Part-time enrollment does not entitle your child to school transportation.

Outside part-time enrollment, public and private schools have no duty to help an exempt school, and any help is up to the local board. Exempt schools cannot use the state textbook loan program.

Nebraska does not issue high school diplomas to exempt school students. You may create one; NDE does not collect or certify it, and the college, employer, or school that receives it decides whether to accept it. A diploma from an out-of-state online school is not a Nebraska accredited diploma either.

A student who passes the General Educational Development (GED) exam and meets the eligibility rules can request a high school diploma issued by NDE.

Finishing before 18

School is required until 18, so when your child completes your program early, the parents each sign a Report of Completion of Program of Instruction and file it with the Commissioner of Education promptly. Finishing an online program does not by itself end schooling; without this report, you risk a truancy violation. A child of 16 or 17 may also stop before graduating if you file a signed withdrawal release with NDE; request the form from the Exempt School Program Office.

Nebraska law protects homeschool graduates at public colleges. No publicly funded college or university in the state may refuse admission to a student, or treat the student differently on residency or scholarship eligibility, because the student was educated in an exempt school, as long as the student's test results show the student is qualified.

College courses your child takes during high school are part of your exempt school's program. They do not count as dual enrollment with another school.

Access College Early scholarship

The Access College Early (ACE) Scholarship pays tuition and mandatory fees for low-income high school students taking college courses for a grade at participating Nebraska colleges. A student qualifies through a family benefit such as free or reduced-price lunch, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income, or WIC; through an extreme hardship; or through a career program of study with income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Books and course-specific fees stay with the family, and awards go first come, first served while funding lasts. The commission's rule describes a student attending a Nebraska high school who applies through a high school official, so ask the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education how an exempt school student applies.

Homeschool dual enrollment in Nebraska

Every school board must let a resident exempt school student take part in extracurricular activities, interschool competition included, to the same extent and under the same requirements as its own students. Your exempt school, not the district, sets the academic standard your child must meet and gives the school its assurance that your child meets it.

• Activities run by an athletics or activities association, such as Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) sports for grades 9 to 12: your child enrolls in five credit hours of district courses each semester.
• Activities governed by another state or national group: only that group's minimum credit hours.
• Other school activities: the district may require up to five credit hours.

A district may not favor full-time students when choosing participants. Your child follows school rules at school and at events, and gets transportation to practices and events only as public school participants do.

Homeschool sports eligibility in Nebraska

Filing for exempt status is free, but NDE offers no funding to exempt schools, and the parent pays for curriculum and every other cost. NDE provides no materials, and public schools have no duty to lend them.

The main public help for a homeschooler's education is at the college level: the ACE scholarship described in the college section, for families who qualify by income, hardship, or a career program.

Homeschool tax breaks and funding in Nebraska

A resident child is admitted to the district's schools on request without charge. Each local school board sets its own grade placement and re-entry policies, so the district decides where your child is placed.

For a high school student, credit for homeschool work depends on the district's or private school's policy on accepting credit from non-accredited programs and on its graduation requirements. The transcript and records you kept are what the school reviews.

Your exempt school filing ends when your child enrolls in an approved or accredited school, and the change-of-enrollment notice to NDE should give the new school status.

The filing is what makes a home school legal. Teaching at home without filing leaves no exemption from the attendance law, so the child is truant, and a violation of that law is a Class III misdemeanor. A school that elects exempt status but does not meet the requirements is not considered a school, and its parents may be prosecuted under the attendance and habitual truancy laws.

Two other rules carry penalties. Knowingly sending false information in an exempt school filing is a Class IIIA misdemeanor. If you do not provide the birth certificate or other proof of identity, the commissioner gives you written notice, and if you do not comply within 10 days, the matter goes to local law enforcement.

NDE contacts you when a filing needs corrections or information the law requires. Answering promptly, and keeping your acknowledgement letter, resolves most questions.