Texas authorities and citation notes

Status: Non-normative research notes. Verify the current law and program terms when applying or revising the standard.

Core home-school authorities

• Texas Education Code § 29.916(a)(1). Defines “home-schooled student” for that section using predominant instruction in a general elementary or secondary program provided by a parent or person standing in parental authority in or through the child’s home. Texas Legislature, Chapter 29.
• Texas Education Code § 33.0832. Governs participation in UIL activities by non-enrolled students and refers to instruction described in § 29.916(a)(1). Its academic verification provisions belong in a later UIL academic-conformance option. Texas Legislature, Chapter 33.
• Texas Education Agency v. Leeper, 893 S.W.2d 432, 443–44 (Tex. 1994). Foundational Texas Supreme Court decision on bona fide home schools within the compulsory-attendance private-school exemption. Texas Education Agency home-school guidance; Texas Supreme Court’s later discussion of Leeper.

These authorities provide the legal backdrop. HS-BASE’s four reserved parental authorities, canonical academic record, and bright-line exclusions are additional proposed standard requirements, not claims that those exact tests appear in the cited authorities.

TEFA category distinction

Texas Education Freedom Accounts distinguish the award for a child attending a participating private school from the smaller home-school/other category. The amount can change, so HS-BASE refers to the private-school funding category rather than a fixed dollar figure. The proposed exclusion depends on the school’s category and the student’s enrollment in its general program, even when that student receives no award. Texas Comptroller TEFA program overview; TEFA school participation information.

Later academic option

Section 33.0832’s provisions for a nationally recognized norm-referenced assessment and subsequent parental academic verification should be considered when drafting the separate UIL academic-conformance option. HS-BASE does not use statewide testing or parental academic assessments as an exclusion.