Nebraska treats home schools as exempt schools: non-approved, non-accredited private schools whose families elect out of state accreditation and approval requirements. The system runs on one annual filing with the Commissioner of Education, due July 15, now submitted through an online portal. There is no state testing, no curriculum submission, and no teacher certification, and 2024 legislation (LB 1027) stripped the filing down further. The state issues no diploma for exempt school students; the parent does, and Nebraska law expressly protects exempt school graduates at the state's public colleges.
Legal framework
The governing statute is Nebraska Revised Statutes 79-1601, which since 1984 has let a private, denominational, or parochial school elect not to meet accreditation or approval requirements. A family exercises the election by filing a signed statement with the Commissioner of Education asserting one of two grounds: that the approval and accreditation requirements violate sincerely held religious beliefs, or, since LB 1027 (2024), that they interfere with the parent's decisions in directing the child's education. No religious claim is required anymore.
Department of Education Rule 13 supplies the procedures; it is being revised to match LB 1027, and the department cautions that only the unaffected provisions remain effective. The stakes of not filing are concrete: under 79-1601(6) a non-complying operation is not deemed a school at all, and the parents become subject to prosecution under the compulsory attendance statutes, sections 79-201 and following. Compulsory attendance in Nebraska runs from age six (if the child turns six before January 1 of the school year) up to age eighteen, longer than in most states.
Notification & registration
The election is filed annually, by July 15 of each year the exempt school will operate, preferably through the state's online portal at exemptschool.education.ne.gov (paper filing by mail remains available; email and fax do not). The packet is a Statement of Election and Assurances signed by one parent, an Authorized Parent Representative Form naming the person who acts as the school's agent, and, in the first year only, a certified copy of each child's birth certificate or equivalent proof of identity, which section 43-2007 requires. Since LB 1027, only one parent's signature is needed and curriculum information and instructor names are no longer reported.
The department responds with an acknowledgement letter signed by the Commissioner; exempt schools are acknowledged only, never approved or disapproved, and the department itself notifies the resident school district. Mid-year withdrawals from public school are routine: the filing can be made at any point, instruction may begin once the department has received the submission, and the required hours are prorated against hours already completed. Starting July 18, 2026, individuals monitoring or providing instruction may not have convictions for specified felony offenses against children.
Recordkeeping
An exempt school must provide 1,032 instructional hours per year in elementary grades and 1,080 hours in grades nine through twelve, the same hourly minimums that bind approved and accredited schools, counted within the July 1 to June 30 reporting year. The program of instruction must lead to basic skills in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and health. That is the whole substantive list: no state testing applies, and the state is prohibited by law from using achievement testing of exempt school students to measure, compare, or evaluate their competency. Rule 13 does not mandate recordkeeping, but the department itself advises keeping attendance data and a transcript of classes taken with grades received, and immunization requirements under section 79-217 apply unless the family's election was made on religious grounds.
Graduation requirements
Nebraska sets no graduation requirements for exempt schools; the parent decides what the program of instruction requires and when it is complete. Two filings matter at the end. If a student under eighteen completes the program, the parents sign a Report of Completion of Program of Instruction and file it with the Commissioner promptly. Alternatively, a parent may withdraw a child who is at least sixteen but under eighteen from the exempt school before graduation by filing a withdrawal form under section 79-202(6). Filing one of these keeps the family clear of the truancy statutes that otherwise apply until age eighteen.
Who issues the diploma
The exempt school, meaning the parent operating it, creates and issues the diploma. The Nebraska Department of Education states flatly that the State of Nebraska does not issue high school diplomas to exempt school students and that it neither collects nor certifies the diplomas exempt schools create. The department's own recommendation is to keep a transcript of classes taken with grades received, which is exactly the document colleges, employers, and the military will ask to see alongside the diploma.
College & military recognition
Nebraska backs exempt school graduates with a statute most states lack: section 85-607 forbids any publicly funded college or university in the state from denying admission to, or discriminating in residency or scholarship determinations against, a student educated in an exempt school, provided the student is qualified for admission as shown by testing results. So ACT or SAT scores plus the parent-issued transcript carry an exempt school graduate into the University of Nebraska system and the state colleges on protected footing.
During high school, section 79-2,136 requires every public school district to allow part-time enrollment by resident students who attend an exempt school, which is the usual route to individual courses and dual-credit offerings. Interscholastic sports in grades nine through twelve run through the Nebraska School Activities Association's bylaws, so eligibility questions go to the NSAA or the local school. Homeschool graduates qualify for Tier 1 military enlistment under current DoD policy.
Official source
For current statutory text, forms, and procedural updates, the authoritative source is the Nebraska Department of Education. Homeschool laws change, so confirm specific requirements directly with the state before relying on them.
Nebraska homeschool organizations
State agencies publish the rules, but they rarely help you interpret them. For that, Nebraska homeschool families generally turn to Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association (NCHEA), the statewide homeschool association. Groups like this one track legislative changes, run conventions and support-group networks, and answer the practical questions that statutes leave open. We are not affiliated with them and receive nothing for the mention; they are simply the most useful next stop after the state's own guidance.