Military homeschool bill arrives in Congress

Christy Kayle homeschools her five children, ranging from preschool to high school, in Fort Knox, Ky. For now, anyway. The family has moved six times in the 10 years her husband has been on active duty, living in six different states and another country. Kayle, a former elementary school teacher who also grew up moving frequently as a military kid, says homeschooling provides consistent education for her children.

“If … overall their education is not going to change because it’s at home and it’s controlled by mom and dad, that’s a gift that you can offer to your kid,” she said.

But homeschool laws vary from state to state. When she moves to each new duty station, Kayle typically spends about a week learning the requirements and getting approval to homeschool. In Maryland, for example, her family had to join an “umbrella school,” typically a nearby private school that agrees, for a fee, to maintain homeschooled student records for the state. While on assignments in other states, she had to give standardized tests and keep extensive portfolios for each of her children.

“As a military spouse, you already have so many things that you’ve got going on in your head during a [permanent change of station],” Kayle said. “And then as a homeschool parent, that’s just an added thing to try and figure out how to legally educate your children.”

A federal bill introduced June 16 would make it easier for military families that homeschool to navigate varying requirements when transferring between states or overseas. The Continuity of Military Parents’ Academic Schooling and State Standards (COMPASS) Act would let families choose to follow the rules of the state where they are assigned or their state of legal residence when homeschooling.

Active-duty military families homeschool their children at double the rate of civilians, and have for several years, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy. About 12% of military families homeschooled a child in 2024, compared with about 6% of overall U.S. families, according to the most recent data available.

The Home School Legal Defense Association rates states on their homeschool friendliness based on factors such as number of options for parents, notification requirements, teacher qualifications, mandated subjects, and assessment requirements. States such as Texas and Florida, with their large numbers of active-duty military, require no notice to homeschool and institute few regulations. But homeschoolers in highly regulated New York, home to Fort Drum and the U.S. Military Academy, must submit a notice of intent; comply with day, hour, and subject requirements; provide instruction plans specific for each student and quarterly reports; and conduct annual assessments.

Making homeschooling more portable for military families will improve military readiness, according to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of the bill’s sponsors.

“Conflicting state homeschool laws can undermine military readiness, family resilience, and retention by forcing service members and their spouses to navigate different requirements each time the Department of War relocates them,” Cruz said in a statement.

Military parents homeschool for a variety of reasons. Nearly all do so because homeschooling allows them to, among other benefits, customize teaching to each child and help their children to succeed even as they frequently relocate, according to a survey of nearly 800 families conducted by the Military Homeschoolers Association.

Roughly 56% of the families in the MHA survey said they chose to homeschool to provide better content and teach it at an appropriate pace for their children. Many also listed concerns about school violence, including bullying. Half of the respondents said they decided to reenlist or continue serving, in part, because they were able to homeschool.

“If you were to establish a wish list for our community, to be able to not constantly readjust every two, three years to new homeschooling laws—that would be at the top,” said Natalie Mack, executive director of the Military Homeschoolers Association, who helped draft the bill this spring.

The proposal doesn’t change how federal funding goes to local public school districts near military installations. Those districts already receive federal impact aid to offset the cost of educating military children assigned to or living on federal property not subject to local taxation, but they do not receive it for children who are homeschooled or attend private schools.

While any increased government involvement has concerned some homeschool advocates for years, that’s not the intent of the act’s proponents.

“We would not ever want to be a part of any legislation that limited any families’ rights and freedoms for homeschooling,” said Mack. “Families get to choose, and that’s one of the things we were adamant about.”

Mack said homeschooling families are overwhelmingly excited about the bill but that states may have to wrestle with how to implement the COMPASS Act if legislators pass it. Say a family moves to a state that requires homeschoolers to notify officials of their intent to homeschool, but they choose to homeschool under their legal state of residence that doesn’t require notification. Do the parents still have to notify their current state that they are homeschooling under another state’s laws?

But Mack, who homeschooled her five children for 23 years while her husband was on active duty, said ironing out the logistical kinks is worth legislators’ effort. “I’m confident and hopeful too that they recognize the challenges of military life,” she said.

Sens. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Ashley Moody, R.-Fla., and Rep. Pat Harrigan, R.-N.C., joined Cruz in introducing the COMPASS Act after recommendations from MHA, the Military Child Education Coalition, and HSLDA. The legislation would add the homeschooling relief to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which already protects military families from conflicting state laws on taxes, voting, and driver’s licences, according to Harrigan.

If enacted, the bill would complement the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, spurred by the Department of Defense, began more than a decade ago developing consistent policies to make it easier for military children to transfer schools, participate in extracurricular activities, and meet graduation requirements. The agreement, however, only applies to public and Defense Department–run schools on military installations.

In Kentucky, Kayle is preparing for her daughter’s senior high school year and said that, if the COMPASS Act becomes law, she will likely switch to following the rules of Florida, the legal state of residence for her and her Army husband.

She’ll have to maintain a portfolio of her children’s work, but she isn’t concerned. “Even having to do something like that annually would be easier for me than to have to research every time I move what I need to do to make sure that we’re in compliance with whatever state we’re in,” she said.