Give New York Homeschool Families Tax Relief and Equal Educational Opportunity
The Issue
Give New York Homeschool Families Tax Relief and Equal Educational Opportunity
To Governor Kathy Hochul, the New York State Legislature, and the New York State Education Department
Every child deserves an education. Every family deserves a fair opportunity to provide one.
Imagine paying taxes to support public education while also purchasing your own curriculum, paying for tutoring, arranging educational activities, and sacrificing working hours to teach your children at home.
For many New York homeschooling families, those responsibilities are part of everyday life.
Some parents choose home education because it is the best fit for their children. Others turn to it because of medical concerns, disabilities, bullying, safety issues, or disputes over school policies.
My family recently experienced how difficult an unexpected transition can be.
After a dispute concerning my son's physician issued medical exemption, he was excluded from public school. Our two younger daughters were subsequently excluded from their private Catholic school after their previously accepted physician-issued medical exemptions were revoked following direct communications between the school's administration and the medical director and superintendent of the very same public school district with which we were actively involved in a formal dispute and administrative appeal.
We are challenging how those decisions were handled, including whether the district's involvement improperly influenced the reversal of our daughters' previously accepted exemptions and whether our family's complaints and appeals played any role in their subsequent exclusion.
Suddenly, we were responsible for educating our three children one in kindergarten, second grade, and eighth grade, while continuing to operate our businesses, meet household obligations, and pay for educational resources.
We also received continued private school tuition billing despite our daughters no longer being permitted to attend. That was quickly resolved in our case.
Our experience raises a question that extends far beyond one family:
Why shouldn't New York offer meaningful financial and educational support to families who take responsibility for educating their children at home?
Other States Offer Families Options New York Should Examine
Across the United States, states take different approaches to school immunization requirements, medical exemptions, religious freedom, and educational alternatives.
Every state requires certain immunizations for school attendance and recognizes medical exemptions. However, many states also recognize religious or personal-belief exemptions.
New York eliminated its religious exemption in 2019, leaving medical exemptions as the only exemption category for its school immunization requirements.
States such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, and Colorado permit additional exemption categories, subject to their respective laws and procedures.
These differences deserve thoughtful examination, including their effects on public health, parental rights, medical decision-making, and access to education.
Other states also provide publicly funded online learning opportunities that allow students to complete public-school coursework from home.
For example, Florida offers Florida Virtual School, including a tuition-free, full-time K–12 public education program with state-certified teachers, structured coursework, and a recognized public-school diploma pathway.
Programs like these are not necessarily the same as independent homeschooling. However, they demonstrate that states can offer meaningful alternatives to traditional classroom attendance while maintaining educational standards and academic oversight.
Why shouldn't New York examine additional educational options for families who need flexibility, medical accommodations, or alternatives to conventional classroom attendance?
New York already recognizes lawful home instruction and provides certain educational services to eligible students, including some special-education-related services.
But families remain responsible for obtaining much of their own curriculum, instructional materials, and educational support.
We are asking New York to build upon the services that already exist, not overlook the families who need more.
We are asking New York lawmakers to consider seven reforms:
Homeschooling tax relief: Establish a refundable or income-adjusted state tax credit for eligible home education expenses.
Curriculum assistance: Provide access to free or subsidized standards-aligned online educational programs, textbooks, and learning resources, including consideration of publicly funded virtual education models used in other states.
Educational continuity: Establish temporary instructional assistance for students involuntarily excluded from school.
Fair medical exemption review: Strengthen transparency, written explanations, reasonable documentation timelines, and independent review procedures, while examining how other states balance medical and nonmedical exemptions with public-health protections.
Parental due-process protections: Ensure that families can raise concerns, request records, and appeal decisions without unlawful retaliation.
Fair tuition policies: Review refund and proration protections for families whose children are involuntarily excluded from private schools.
Better homeschool support: Simplify administrative guidance and provide accessible assistance with instructional plans, reporting requirements, and available services.
These reforms should be evaluated responsibly, with consideration for fiscal costs, public health, educational standards, and the needs of public school students.
What happens next?
We are requesting that New York legislators formally review these proposals, meet with affected families and educators, and consider introducing legislation addressing home education affordability and educational continuity.
This petition is open to homeschooling families, public and private school parents, teachers, grandparents, taxpayers, and community members who believe these issues deserve legislative consideration.
You do not need to agree with every homeschooling choice or every school policy to support a fair discussion of these reforms.
Children should have meaningful opportunities to learn, and families should have a meaningful voice in the policies affecting their education.
Please consider adding your name to request a formal legislative review.
Moriah Mathis
New York Parent, Taxpayer, and Business Owner
Glens Falls/Queensbury, New York
256
The Issue
Give New York Homeschool Families Tax Relief and Equal Educational Opportunity
To Governor Kathy Hochul, the New York State Legislature, and the New York State Education Department
Every child deserves an education. Every family deserves a fair opportunity to provide one.
Imagine paying taxes to support public education while also purchasing your own curriculum, paying for tutoring, arranging educational activities, and sacrificing working hours to teach your children at home.
For many New York homeschooling families, those responsibilities are part of everyday life.
Some parents choose home education because it is the best fit for their children. Others turn to it because of medical concerns, disabilities, bullying, safety issues, or disputes over school policies.
My family recently experienced how difficult an unexpected transition can be.
After a dispute concerning my son's physician issued medical exemption, he was excluded from public school. Our two younger daughters were subsequently excluded from their private Catholic school after their previously accepted physician-issued medical exemptions were revoked following direct communications between the school's administration and the medical director and superintendent of the very same public school district with which we were actively involved in a formal dispute and administrative appeal.
We are challenging how those decisions were handled, including whether the district's involvement improperly influenced the reversal of our daughters' previously accepted exemptions and whether our family's complaints and appeals played any role in their subsequent exclusion.
Suddenly, we were responsible for educating our three children one in kindergarten, second grade, and eighth grade, while continuing to operate our businesses, meet household obligations, and pay for educational resources.
We also received continued private school tuition billing despite our daughters no longer being permitted to attend. That was quickly resolved in our case.
Our experience raises a question that extends far beyond one family:
Why shouldn't New York offer meaningful financial and educational support to families who take responsibility for educating their children at home?
Other States Offer Families Options New York Should Examine
Across the United States, states take different approaches to school immunization requirements, medical exemptions, religious freedom, and educational alternatives.
Every state requires certain immunizations for school attendance and recognizes medical exemptions. However, many states also recognize religious or personal-belief exemptions.
New York eliminated its religious exemption in 2019, leaving medical exemptions as the only exemption category for its school immunization requirements.
States such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, and Colorado permit additional exemption categories, subject to their respective laws and procedures.
These differences deserve thoughtful examination, including their effects on public health, parental rights, medical decision-making, and access to education.
Other states also provide publicly funded online learning opportunities that allow students to complete public-school coursework from home.
For example, Florida offers Florida Virtual School, including a tuition-free, full-time K–12 public education program with state-certified teachers, structured coursework, and a recognized public-school diploma pathway.
Programs like these are not necessarily the same as independent homeschooling. However, they demonstrate that states can offer meaningful alternatives to traditional classroom attendance while maintaining educational standards and academic oversight.
Why shouldn't New York examine additional educational options for families who need flexibility, medical accommodations, or alternatives to conventional classroom attendance?
New York already recognizes lawful home instruction and provides certain educational services to eligible students, including some special-education-related services.
But families remain responsible for obtaining much of their own curriculum, instructional materials, and educational support.
We are asking New York to build upon the services that already exist, not overlook the families who need more.
We are asking New York lawmakers to consider seven reforms:
Homeschooling tax relief: Establish a refundable or income-adjusted state tax credit for eligible home education expenses.
Curriculum assistance: Provide access to free or subsidized standards-aligned online educational programs, textbooks, and learning resources, including consideration of publicly funded virtual education models used in other states.
Educational continuity: Establish temporary instructional assistance for students involuntarily excluded from school.
Fair medical exemption review: Strengthen transparency, written explanations, reasonable documentation timelines, and independent review procedures, while examining how other states balance medical and nonmedical exemptions with public-health protections.
Parental due-process protections: Ensure that families can raise concerns, request records, and appeal decisions without unlawful retaliation.
Fair tuition policies: Review refund and proration protections for families whose children are involuntarily excluded from private schools.
Better homeschool support: Simplify administrative guidance and provide accessible assistance with instructional plans, reporting requirements, and available services.
These reforms should be evaluated responsibly, with consideration for fiscal costs, public health, educational standards, and the needs of public school students.
What happens next?
We are requesting that New York legislators formally review these proposals, meet with affected families and educators, and consider introducing legislation addressing home education affordability and educational continuity.
This petition is open to homeschooling families, public and private school parents, teachers, grandparents, taxpayers, and community members who believe these issues deserve legislative consideration.
You do not need to agree with every homeschooling choice or every school policy to support a fair discussion of these reforms.
Children should have meaningful opportunities to learn, and families should have a meaningful voice in the policies affecting their education.
Please consider adding your name to request a formal legislative review.
Moriah Mathis
New York Parent, Taxpayer, and Business Owner
Glens Falls/Queensbury, New York
The Decision Makers
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on October 30, 2026