Oklahoma

History

Oklahoma is in the southern United States. Homeschooling was legalized in Oklahoma in 1907, the first state in the nation to do so, and the right to homeschool is included in its constitution. As such, it is unsurprising that Oklahoma appears to have high homeschool participation.

Regulation

In Oklahoma, parents can homeschool to meet the state compulsory education requirements for students ages 5 to 18. The state offers only one option for homeschooling. The state provides a webpage with guidance and suggestions to homeschool parents, but little is required. Parents are asked to notify their local public school principal of their intent to homeschool, but it is not required by law. The state requires instruction in basic subjects.

No explicit statute governs access to public school offerings for anyone outside of the public school system. Homeschool students have no access to public school classes or activities. In fact, the Federal District Court ruled against a homeschooled student seeking to compel the school to allow part-time enrollment. Swanson v. Guthrie Independent School District No. 1-1, 942 F. Supp. 511 (W.D.Okl. 1996). The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this decision. 135 F.3d 694 (10th Cir. 1998).  We were unable to find information on homeschool access to special needs services.

State Data

Oklahoma does not report homeschool participation for the state. While the lack of official data is problematic when homeschooled students are reported to their local principal, U.S. Census estimates indicate that around 7.7% of Oklahoma families homeschooled in the spring of 2020. That percentage increased to 20.1% by the fall of 2020. These are very large participation percentages when considering that the national average from that time was 5.4% and 11.1%, respectively. In fact, these are the highest percentages of homeschooling in the nation, coming from the U.S. Census, second only to Alaska. Based on U.S. Census data, our calculations indicate that about 6.70% of K-12 students in Oklahoma were homeschooled during the 2022-23 school year, and 7.91% during the 2023-24 school year. Due to survey changes, the data from 2020 reflects the percentage of households, while the data from following years reflects the percentage of students.

Cross-Sector Comparison

We cannot calculate a cross-sector comparison because we lack information on homeschool participation.

School Choice Context

In addition to homeschooling, parents in Oklahoma have multiple school choice options. These include inter- and intra-district enrollment in traditional public, private, magnet, and charter schools. Oklahoma provides public funding for private school choice through multiple avenues, including Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), vouchers, and tax credits. Homeschool students are eligible for up to $1,000 in public funding.

Commentary

Given the evidence of large homeschool participation, providing the information already collected from parents would increase transparency. It is also worth mentioning that the compulsory attendance ages in Oklahoma are both the earliest (5 years old) and the oldest (18 years old) in the country. Few states have a 13-year requirement. Oklahoma is also one of three states with the largest Native American population in the nation. New Mexico and South Dakota also have large native American populations and 13-year compulsory education requirements.