As the school year picks up pace, public schools and homeschooling families are working out what changes to state law mean for them.

A handful of education related bills were passed during this year’s legislative session that tackled a variety of topics, including school choice. One such bill, the Homeschool Freedom Act, eliminates the need for homeschool families to submit their curriculum to their school district under existing compulsory attendance law. It passed and became law July 1.

“I 100%, and our district 100% supported the bill that removed the requirement for homeschool parents to [submit curriculum],” Superintendent Jay Curtis said. “We both affirmed it and supported it at the time, and now that it’s been passed, we affirm and support it now.”

The prior requirement to submit curriculum “was a poor requirement to start,” Curtis added.

“So all it did was create administrative bureaucracy and took time, energy and effort and resources from school districts and homeschool families for something that was essentially meaningless, because they would submit their curriculum and then there was no requirement to follow up,” Curtis said, adding that districts were actually not allowed to follow up on homeschool curriculum that was submitted.

Some families took the requirement to submit seriously, while others may submit a program they didn’t intend to use, Curtis said. 

At the beginning of the year, PCSD1 and other districts sent out a letter to homeschool families asking if they are homeschooling, a method districts have employed to ensure students are receiving education, and if they intended to take funds from the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act (currently on hold due to a legal battle).

There has been some difference of opinion on the Homeschool Freedom Act and what this means for both school districts and homeschool families, particularly as to whether parents are required to notify school districts of their intent to homeschool.

Most parents did not have an issue replying to the district, Curtis said, but a minority had an issue with signifying intent in the wake of the Homeschool Freedom Act’s passing.

“Some of them that I became aware of, I would just very kindly send an email and say, ‘Hey, here’s the situation we’re in, we respect your rights. We’re not trying to pry, but here’s what we’re trying to balance. We’re asking for your help in that. We’re not demanding anything,’ and most of the time, those parents have complied as well.”

The practical application of compulsory attendance laws means children 6-16 years old receive high quality education, Curtis said.

“We are the ones who are obligated to ensure that, and if we, for instance, have a student who is not coming to school, and we don’t think that any education is involved in that, like they haven’t said, ‘Yep, we’re homeschooling’ in some way, shape or form, we would be obligated to turn that over to the county attorney,” he said, adding, “We are trying to take the softest approach. We 100% respect the privacy and the rights of homeschool families.”

Some groups disagree with Curtis and other districts’ interpretation of these compulsory attendance laws. On Aug. 22, the Homeschool Legal Defense Association released a statement in support of Wyoming’s law (making it the 11th state to not require curriculum and the first with a law) and named 10 districts that were still contacting homeschool families in regard to their intent to homeschool, “HSLDA has now sent letters to the following Wyoming school districts reminding them about HB 46 and how it eliminates any legal requirement that homeschooling families file annual notifications with the local school district,” the statement reads in part.

PCSD1 was among those named.

The release was shared by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, and Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, who thanked the association for “standing up for homeschool families, especially Park County.”

Rodriguez-Williams and the HSLDA both contend that because of Homeschool Freedom Act, homeschool families no longer have to submit curriculum but are also not required to submit a letter of intent to schools with the exception of a one time notice of withdrawal. 

“I think the simplicity of the bill and the simplicity of Wyoming law has actually led to some of the confusion here, because the only requirement in state law that ever existed for homeschool families when it came to notifying the district was to annually submit the curriculum,” said Will Estrada, senior counsel at HSLDA, adding, “As part of that … many districts had notice of intent forms and kind of went beyond the curriculum. And so when that one sentence that was in the law saying removing curriculum was removed, what it did was eliminate any legal authority for families to have to file with the district when they’re homeschooling.”

The bill’s simplicity has led some districts to question whether they still need to send the letter of intent, Estrada added.

He said he doesn’t think districts have malicious intent, instead these are “hiccups that happen when a new law is passed,” in particular a simple one. Some districts he has spoken with are concerned they could lose federal funding if they don’t provide homeschool families with notifications of federally funded programs open to them.

“We are fully aware that when a new law is passed, there’s always kind of growing pains around it, and that is part of the notification that we’re providing to school districts on behalf of our HSLDA member families,” Estrada said, adding, “I told several districts … there are easier ways to do this than sending six pages in the mail … you can just make it a very simple, ‘Here’s notification, if you want to participate in any of these federally funded programs, contact us, otherwise, have a nice life.’”

The HSLDA has now sent a letter to 12 districts based on tips from parents, Estrada said. While Powell has not responded to the HSLDA several of the named districts have spoken with Estrada. These districts have clarified they did not send notice of intent forms “to go after homeschool families” but to make sure they didn’t lose federal eligibility, Estrada said, “So I’ve been heartened by that. I’m hopeful that next year, we’ll have far less districts that send these letters out, and then by year three, everyone will have gotten the memo, and we can all live happily ever after.”

The release from the Wyoming Department of Education on June 16 cited in the HSLDA release tells readers that while no law enforces the disclosure of intent to homeschool, it is important to note a Wyoming statute does require school boards to give the attendance office a list of all compulsory age children (ages 6-16) within the district. 

“I think that was a bit of a nod to the public schools. The issue is 21-4-106 is a follow on statute from 21-4-105 which is all dealing with children who are already enrolled in the public school,” Estrada said. “So I think the superintendent’s guidance could have been a little bit more clear if there wasn’t that reference, but that was a nod to some districts that were contacting her and saying, Well, what do we do with this section?”

While Estrada has shared with legislators and the WDE that he doesn’t believe clarification is needed in the case of Homeschool Freedom Act, the WDE is looking into clarifying laws for Homeschool Freedom Act and The Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act as of the June 16 release, when it comes to the Homeschool Freedom Act they advise school districts to “to be cognizant of the privacy of homeschool families and limit their communication as we work to correct legal obligations inherent in these overlapping laws.”

The WDE release can be viewed here: edu.wyoming.gov/sups-memo/06-16-2026-message-from-state-superintendent-of-public-instruction-megan-degenfelder/

The HSLDA release can be viewed here: hslda.org/post/wyoming-hslda-plays-whack-a-mole-with-wyoming-school-districts