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The Tennessee Conservative [By David Seal] –
Public school districts are feeling the heat of a mass student exodus. Many of the 144 Tennessee school districts are starting to blame homeschoolers for their enrollment and financial woes.
Rather than create an educational environment conducive to luring students back to public schools, some districts are exploring truancy laws, regulations, and forceful tactics to bring students back to the public system.
As of 2024, Tennessee had a total of 154,425 students in various categories of home, private and other non-public school options; and the number is growing. To see a statewide spreadsheet of non-public enrollment for 2024, a link is provided here.
One of the school districts experiencing an explosion of homeschoolers is Greene County, Tennessee. WGRV Radio reported on December 5, 2025, that the Greene County Director of Schools provided a report to his board on the growing number of homeschoolers.
The news outlet stated in part,
“Dr. Chris Malone reported there are now around 1,400 students being home schooled in Greeneville and Greene County. That number he said has gone up about 300 since the beginning of the current school year.
Malone expressed concerns with the numbers, saying [in part] he had participated in the Niswonger Foundation Legislative Convening in November and presented on the need for legislation around ever-changing home school numbers.
He said last night he is hoping the legislature can create a bill that can help stem the tide of people avoiding truancy issues and DCS issues by escaping to home school…”
A link to the full WGRV news report is linked here.
If you ask a homeschool family why they homeschool their children, they will not cite the need to avoid truancy or DCS issues. They homeschool to have education freedom, quality of life, and to avoid the safety concerns and their ideological differences associated with public schools.
Homeschool families are concerned that legislation will regulate and punish parents that choose homeschooling.
The Tennessee Conservative News published a series of 4 reports in 2024 on public school exodus, all of which are linked within the article provided here.
The series focused on why certain parents were pushing for school vouchers but also serves as documentation of serious parent concerns about school safety and other issues that drive families away from public schools.
In Sevier County, a well known homeschool advocate weighed in on the situation, specifically on heavy-handed regulation.
“Homeschoolers are not avoiding truancy laws. Homeschoolers are choosing to leave a system that has progressively failed and left their children behind. If such regulatory legislation was enacted, who gets to decide which homeschool families “put a lot of effort in to teaching” their children and which ones don’t? The state is not doing such a great job at managing public schools, so I can imagine the results if they were to get into the homes of families who do not choose their government educational system. What happened at the beginning of this 2025 school year that parents of 300 children decided to leave the Greene County “educational” system? This is my biggest question. For 5% of the children to be pulled out in the last 4 months, I am more concerned about what is happening behind the doors of the school than in the homes of families.” – said Kelli O’Connor, Homeschool Parent and Activist
The Tennessee Conservative News will continue to follow and report on legislation that impacts the freedom of families to homeschool their children.
About the Author: David Seal is a retired Jefferson County educator, recognized artist, local businessman, 917 Society Volunteer, and past Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. He has also served Jefferson County as a County Commissioner and is a citizen lobbyist for the people on issues such as eminent domain, property rights, education, and broadband accessibility on the state level. David is also a 2024 winner of The Tennessee Conservative Flame Award & has received an accolade from the Institute For Justice for successfully lobbing the TN legislature to protect property rights. David can be reached at david@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
