My Learning Source Massachusetts › Homeschooling in Massachusetts › Massachusetts Homeschool Options — Home Education Plan Approval, Charles and Brunelle, Assessment, H.518, Where Massachusetts Stands on School Choice, District Classes, MIAA Sports, Dual Enrollment, Driver's Ed and the HiSET

Massachusetts Homeschool Options — Home Education Plan Approval, Charles and Brunelle, Assessment, H.518, Where Massachusetts Stands on School Choice, District Classes, MIAA Sports, Dual Enrollment, Driver's Ed and the HiSET

Massachusetts lets parents teach their children at home with advance approval from the local school district. The compulsory attendance law, M.G.L. c. 76 § 1, excuses a child "who is being otherwise instructed in a manner approved in advance by the superintendent or the school committee." The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) says that for children of compulsory school age (6–16), home schooling requires advance approval by the district where the child lives, under the policy its school committee has adopted, and that the district looks at whether instruction "equals in thoroughness and efficiency, and in the progress made therein, that in the public schools in the same town." Notifying the district is the first step, but notification alone doesn't let you begin; taking a child of compulsory school age out of school without an approved plan makes the child truant. DESE does not approve plans or review districts' decisions, so every district's process is a little different. Two Supreme Judicial Court decisions shape it: Care and Protection of Charles (1987) and Brunelle v. Lynn Public Schools (1998), which held that home visits may not be required without parental consent. No Massachusetts program pays or credits homeschool costs. The state has no ESA, voucher or tax-credit scholarship; its constitution bars public money for primary or secondary schools that are not publicly owned and controlled; the 2025–2026 bills to create a scholarship account (H.581) or a scholarship tax credit (S.1984) have not passed; and Massachusetts was not on the IRS list of states taking part in the federal scholarship tax credit for 2027 as of October 22, 2026.

Homeschooling in Massachusetts: the basics

• The law: every child between the minimum and maximum ages set by the Board of Education must attend a public day school in their town or another day school approved by the school committee — but attendance isn't required of a child "who is being otherwise instructed in a manner approved in advance by the superintendent or the school committee" (M.G.L. c. 76 § 1). Home schooling is that "otherwise instructed" option.
• Ages: DESE says home schooling requires advance approval for children of compulsory school age (6–16). The Board's regulation says each child must attend school beginning in September of the calendar year in which he or she turns six; a school committee may set a younger starting age but not an older one (603 CMR 8.02).
• The standard: DESE says the district approves and oversees home schooling with a focus on whether "instruction in all the studies required by law equals in thoroughness and efficiency, and in the progress made therein, that in the public schools in the same town" — the same test c. 76 § 1 uses for approving private schools.
• What home schooling is and isn't: DESE describes it as education provided by or at the direction of a child's parent instead of enrolling the child in a public or private school. It is not remote learning provided by a school district, and requirements that apply to public schools, such as educator licensing or structured learning time, do not apply to it.
• Who decides: each school committee in Massachusetts has a policy on approving home schooling plans, and the plan is reviewed and approved by the school district where the child lives. DESE does not approve plans, oversee district policies, or review districts' decisions on home schooling proposals. For details, DESE says to contact your school district.
• The court cases: the Trial Court Law Libraries describe Care and Protection of Charles, 399 Mass. 324 (1987), as clearly stating that parents may educate their own children with approval from the school, giving guidance on what schools may consider when deciding to grant approval, and applying the subjects in M.G.L. c. 71 §§ 1, 2 and 3 to home education plans. They describe Brunelle v. Lynn Public Schools, 428 Mass. 512 (1998), as holding that home visits are not presumptively essential to the approval of a home education plan and may not be required without parental consent.
• Subjects: M.G.L. c. 71 § 1 lists orthography, reading, writing, the English language and grammar, geography, arithmetic, drawing, music, the history and constitution of the United States, the duties of citizenship, health education, physical education and good behavior. Section 2 requires United States history and social science, including civics, and Section 3 requires physical education, in the public schools.
• Penalties: a person in control of a child who fails to cause the child to attend school as required for seven day sessions or fourteen half-day sessions within six months can be fined up to twenty dollars on complaint by a supervisor of attendance (M.G.L. c. 76 § 2).

Getting your home education plan approved

Notify first: DESE says parents planning to educate their child at home must notify the district where they live — preferably in writing — as the first step. Notification alone does not authorize you to begin home schooling, and removing a child of compulsory school age from school without an approved plan would make the child truant. Plan ahead if your child is enrolled now.

The district's response: once it receives your notice, the district must give you its policy and process for approving home schooling and ask you to submit your proposed plan. If your notice already includes the plan, the district should still send its policy and process and then review the plan.

What districts look at: DESE says districts typically review the plan's content, instructional materials, duration and frequency of instruction, methods of instruction and evaluation, and whether it enables the child to make adequate progress in the areas Massachusetts identifies as essential. Many school committee policies, citing Charles, list factors such as the proposed curriculum and the number of hours of instruction in each subject, the competency of the parents to teach the children, and the textbooks, workbooks and other instructional aids and lesson plans to be used; Foxborough's also lists periodic standardized testing.

Decision and timing: the district then approves the plan, asks for changes or more information, or disapproves it, and must tell you its decision — preferably in writing — within a reasonable period. State guidance sets no fixed deadline; local policies do. For example, Monomoy Regional asks for written notice 14 days before a home program begins and again each year, and Foxborough says families must reapply each academic year.

Home visits: under Brunelle (1998), a district may not require a home visit, without the parents' consent, as a condition of approving a home education plan.

If you disagree with a decision: DESE does not review districts' decisions on home schooling proposals, so start with the district — ask for its reasons in writing and what changes would lead to approval. We have not found an official state page describing a formal appeal route; get legal advice if a dispute continues.

Records of approval: Northampton Public Schools notes that proof of an approved plan for each year is generally required when a student transfers into a public, charter or private school later, so keep your plans and the district's approval letters.

Assessment, testing and records

Assessment is set locally: no statewide test is required of home-schooled students. Districts and families agree on how progress will be shown. Northampton Public Schools, for example, says parents must comply with an evaluation program mutually agreed on by the school and parents, and it requests a mid-year progress report and an end-of-year summary. Foxborough lists periodic standardized testing among the factors it may consider.

MCAS: Foxborough Public Schools says home-educated students do not participate in state testing programs such as MCAS.

Records: Northampton says there is no legal requirement for caregivers to keep specific records, but records help track progress and may be needed if the child later enrolls in a public or private school. Its suggestions include a daily schedule or school calendar, curriculum, annual learning goals, evaluations and tests, reading lists, samples of schoolwork, project records and, for high schoolers, transcripts you create.

Private virtual schools: Foxborough says that if a family enrolls in a private virtual school based outside Massachusetts, state law treats the child as home-schooled, so the plan must be reviewed and approved by the district where the family lives. A private virtual school based in Massachusetts must be approved by the school committee of its town.

Homeschool bills in 2025–2026: H.518

H.518, An Act to facilitate homeschooling and encourage educational innovation: filed by Representative Nicholas A. Boldyga of Southwick in the 194th General Court (2025–2026). As filed, it would require only a one-time letter of intent to DESE — giving each child's name, age and grade level, the address where home schooling takes place, and a statement of intent to provide an education in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth — with no annual notifications unless the family moves to a different district. It would let families choose curriculum, teaching methods and materials without state oversight, except that education must include basic subjects such as reading, writing, history, civics, math and science, and it would bar state-mandated assessments unless the parent opts in.

H.518's status: referred to the Joint Committee on Education on February 27, 2025, with a hearing scheduled for September 16, 2025. As of November 7, 2026 those are its only actions on the Legislature's website. It is not law; the approval process under c. 76 § 1 is unchanged.

Other bills: H.581 (Promise Scholarship Accounts) and S.1984 (a scholarship tax credit) are described in the school choice section below. S.177, despite a title that reads "starter home school cost reimbursement," is a bill about starter homes (sent to the Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses), not home schooling. We make no prediction about the next General Court.

Where Massachusetts stands on school choice (November 2026)

No private school choice program: Massachusetts has no education savings account, voucher or tax-credit scholarship, and no Massachusetts program pays or credits homeschool costs.

The state constitution: Article XVIII of the Amendments, as rewritten by Article XLVI and amended by Article CIII, says no grant, appropriation or use of public money or property or loan of credit shall be made or authorized by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision for the purpose of founding, maintaining or aiding any primary or secondary school (among other institutions) that is not publicly owned and under the exclusive control, order and supervision of public officers or agents. It allows grants-in-aid to private higher education institutions or to their students or parents.

H.581 (Promise Scholarship Accounts): filed by Representative Galvin of Canton by request, it would create accounts of state funds — $9,500 per school year, subject to appropriation — for participating students to spend on qualified education expenses such as tuition at participating private schools, tutoring by a certified educator, curriculum, online courses and therapies. As filed, a student would qualify only after attending a Massachusetts public school for at least 6 weeks in the prior school year, so families already homeschooling would not have qualified. It was referred to the Joint Committee on Education on February 27, 2025 and had a hearing on May 12, 2025; those are its only actions as of November 7, 2026.

S.1984 (empowerment scholarship tax credit): filed by Senators Fattman and Tarr, it would give a refundable state tax credit of 30 percent of donations to means-tested scholarship programs at accredited Massachusetts tuition-based schools, up to