How to Withdraw Your Child From Public School in Minnesota (2026): Step by Step

How Withdrawal Works in Minnesota

Minnesota establishes home instruction through an initial report filed with your resident district superintendent. The report names your child, includes immunization information, and signals that you are providing home instruction. You file it by October 1 for a standard school year, or within 15 days of beginning if you start at another time. You then notify your child's public school so attendance stops. There is no approval step and no district vote on whether your home school qualifies.

Minnesota's compulsory school age runs from 7 through 17. If your child is in that range and currently enrolled in a public school, withdrawing means replacing that enrollment with home instruction. The initial report with your resident district is what puts the program on record. Without it, your child remains counted as a public school student in the district's enrollment data.

One detail distinguishes Minnesota from many other states: the initial report includes immunization information. You include your child's immunization records or a written statement of exemption. Missing this piece makes the report incomplete, so gathering the records before you write the letter saves a second trip to the district office.

Step 1: File the Initial Report

The initial report is a letter of intent to provide home instruction, filed with your resident district superintendent. It must include the child's name, age, and address, the name of each person who will provide instruction, and the child's immunization records or a written statement of exemption. These are the requirements under Minnesota Statutes Section 120A.22.

Minnesota does not prescribe a specific form for the initial report. A written letter addressed to your district superintendent that contains all the required information is sufficient. Keep a dated copy and any acknowledgment you receive from the district. Some districts send a confirmation; others do not. Either way, your dated copy establishes when you filed.

The report goes to your resident district superintendent, which is the district where your child lives, not necessarily the district the child attended. If your child was enrolled in a magnet school or a school of choice outside your home district, the initial report still goes to your own district's superintendent, not the one running the school your child attended.

We cover the initial report and all ongoing requirements in our Minnesota homeschooling guide. Before you begin, a free reading assessment gives you a clear picture of where your child's reading skills stand so you can start instruction at the right level from day one.

Step 2: Mind the Timing

File the initial report by October 1 for a standard school year. If you are withdrawing at another point during the year, file the initial report within 15 days of the day you begin home instruction. Either way, the report goes to your resident district superintendent.

For a mid-year withdrawal, the cleanest approach is to notify the school and file the initial report close together, within that 15-day window. Your child moves directly from public school enrollment to home instruction, and both the school and the district have your notice on file. Do not let days pass between pulling your child from school and filing the report, since the 15-day clock runs from when you begin home instruction, not from when you decide to home school.

If October 1 falls on a weekend or a holiday, file on the next business day. Keep a dated copy of everything you send. If you mail the report, use a method that provides a delivery record. If you deliver it in person, ask for a date-stamped copy or a written acknowledgment. Either one gives you documentation that the filing was on time.

Step 3: Notify the School and Keep Records

Send your child's public school written notice that your child is withdrawn to home instruction. A short letter to the school office is enough. Written notice stops attendance tracking and creates a record of the withdrawal date. Keep it alongside your initial report and any acknowledgment from the district.

While you are in contact with the school, request any records you want before the withdrawal is complete. Transcripts, immunization records already on file, and any prior assessment results belong to the family and are worth collecting at the point of withdrawal. If the immunization records from the school match what you need for the initial report, request them first and use them in both places.

After the withdrawal, Minnesota asks you to teach the required subjects by grade level and complete an annual assessment, which is usually a nationally normed standardized test. Unless you hold a Minnesota teaching license, a licensed teacher is involved in the assessment process, either administering it or overseeing it. You keep the results in your records; you submit them to the district only if your child's score in a subject falls below the 30th percentile, which triggers a six-month evaluation cycle in that subject. Use our homeschooling guide to plan your curriculum before that first assessment comes around.

Special Education and Common Snags

If your child has an Individualized Education Program, the special education services the public school provides end when your child withdraws to home instruction. The mandatory IEP entitlement does not carry over. Minnesota districts may offer certain services to home-instructed students with disabilities on a voluntary basis, but those services are not guaranteed and are not the same as what the IEP required the public school to provide. Contact your district's special education office before withdrawing if your child receives IEP services and those services are part of the daily program.

The most common snag in Minnesota is the immunization information. Families write a strong letter of intent, address it to the right superintendent, and forget to include the immunization records or exemption statement. The report is then incomplete, and you may need to send a follow-up before the district considers it filed. Gather the records before you sit down to write the letter so you can include them in the initial filing.

A second snag is sending the report to the wrong office. The initial report goes to your resident district superintendent, not to your child's school, not to the principal's office, and not to a state agency. If you are unsure who the superintendent is or how to reach the office, call your child's school and ask; they can direct you to the right contact. Getting the right recipient on the first filing keeps the process clean.

A Note from Homeschool Teacher Guide: What This Really Means for You

Minnesota is a notice state with one extra piece to remember: the immunization information that goes with your initial report. File the report with your resident district superintendent, by October 1 for the year or within 15 days of a mid-year start, include the immunization records or exemption statement, and send a short note to your child's school. Keep copies of everything. The assessment piece comes later, and unless you are a licensed teacher, a licensed teacher is part of it -- so our Minnesota homeschooling guide is worth reading before you reach that step. Handle the report cleanly and the rest follows.