How to Withdraw Your Child from School in Nebraska

The moment you stop sending your child to school in Nebraska, the district's attendance software starts logging unexcused absences. Once those absences pile up, state law requires the school to notify the county attorney or the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to initiate a truancy investigation. That process can be triggered in a matter of days.

The fix is straightforward — but there are two distinct steps that most guides conflate, and getting the order right matters.

Step 1: Send a Withdrawal Letter to the School (Do This First)

The withdrawal letter goes to your child's principal and superintendent. This is not a Rule 13 filing with the Nebraska Department of Education — it is a separate, local notification that immediately ends the school's obligation to track your child's attendance.

The moment the school receives this letter, your child is no longer an enrolled student. The unexcused absence clock stops.

This letter should be sent via certified mail with return receipt requested. The green card that comes back to you is your proof — with a timestamp — that the school received your notification before any truancy threshold was crossed.

What to include in the withdrawal letter:

• Your child's full name and grade
• The exact effective date of withdrawal
• A clear statement that your child will be enrolling in a private exempt school in compliance with Nebraska Revised Statutes §79-1601

What to leave out:

Do not explain your reasons. Do not ask permission. Do not offer to meet with the principal. Do not describe your curriculum plans or promise to keep the school updated. Over-sharing invites scrutiny, unsolicited advice, and requests for meetings that you have no legal obligation to attend.

A simple, firm letter reads something like: "We are writing to inform you that [child's name] is withdrawing from [school name] effective [date]. [He/She] will be enrolling in a private exempt school in compliance with Nebraska law."

That is all you need. The school has no authority to approve or deny this withdrawal. The authority to acknowledge or challenge an exempt school rests exclusively with the Commissioner of Education at the state level — not with your local principal or district superintendent.

Step 2: File Your Rule 13 Paperwork with the Nebraska Department of Education

After — or simultaneously with — sending the withdrawal letter to the school, you file your exempt school paperwork with the NDE.

Nebraska does not use the term "homeschool" in its statutes. Families teaching their children at home are legally operating a private exempt school under NRS §79-1601. "Rule 13" refers to Title 92, Chapter 13 of the Nebraska Administrative Code — the procedural rules for establishing and maintaining that status.

You file two forms:

Form A — Statement of Election and Assurances. This formally declares that your family is declining state accreditation based on religious beliefs or your fundamental parental right to direct your child's education. It also includes a brief written assurance (added by LB 1027 in 2024) confirming that the person monitoring instruction is qualified to do so. You sign this yourself — there is no external review of credentials.

Form B — Authorized Parent Representative Form. This designates one adult as the primary contact with the NDE and establishes your school's dates of operation — meaning the academic calendar you choose for your program.

If this is your first time filing, you also include a certified copy of your child's birth certificate. This is a one-time requirement under the Nebraska Missing Children Identification Act.

The standard annual deadline is July 15. For mid-year withdrawals, you file "promptly" — as soon as possible after pulling your child, not at the next annual deadline.

Once the NDE processes your paperwork, they send you an acknowledgment letter. They also notify your local resident school district directly, which removes your child from the district's expected attendance roster at the state level. Keep that acknowledgment letter — colleges and some extracurricular programs will ask for it.

Mid-Year Withdrawal: The Timeline That Matters

If you are pulling your child out in the middle of the school year — say, October or February — the danger window is the gap between the last day your child attends and the day the school receives your withdrawal letter.

Here is the sequence that protects you:

1. Send the certified withdrawal letter to the school on the day you decide to withdraw — or the night before, if possible
2. File the NDE Rule 13 paperwork as soon as the forms are in hand
3. Keep the certified mail receipt until you receive the NDE acknowledgment letter

Do not wait to get your Rule 13 paperwork filed before sending the local letter. The two are independent. The local letter protects you immediately; the NDE filing establishes your legal status going forward.

If the School Pushes Back

Some administrators resist mid-year withdrawals. They may claim they need to review your curriculum, hold an exit meeting, or verify your teaching qualifications before releasing your child. None of these are legal requirements.

Common pushback tactics, and how to handle them:

"We need to approve your homeschool program." The NDE — not your local district — is the only body with authority over exempt schools. Decline the meeting politely and in writing. Your certified mail receipt demonstrates you followed the law correctly.

"You need to show us your curriculum." As of LB 1027 in 2024, curriculum is not submitted to anyone — not the NDE, not the school district. You are under no obligation to share it.

"We're required to report this to DHHS." If the school contacts DHHS after receiving a properly dated certified withdrawal letter, the acknowledgment letter from the NDE is your documentation that you are legally compliant. HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) can also intervene if an investigation is improperly initiated.

"Can we schedule a meeting to discuss your plans?" You can decline. No meeting is required by law.

What Happens to IEP Services After Withdrawal?

If your child has an active IEP or 504 plan, leaving the public school does not mean losing all services. Under Nebraska law, exempt schools are treated as non-approved private schools. Your resident school district retains the legal obligation to evaluate your child and provide equitable special education services — typically speech therapy, occupational therapy, or reading intervention — delivered at the public school facility.

You maintain control of the core academic program at home while the district provides the specialized therapeutic services separately. Request a team meeting with the district's special education coordinator after you have filed your Rule 13 paperwork to establish this arrangement in writing.

Instructional Hours After Withdrawal

Nebraska requires 1,032 instructional hours per year for grades K-8 and 1,080 for grades 9-12. When you withdraw mid-year, you do not start from zero.

You prorate based on the remaining portion of the school year. The rough formula: divide the remaining school days by 180, then multiply by the applicable hour requirement. That gives you the hours you are responsible for providing from the withdrawal date through June 30.

Track those hours from day one. The state no longer audits your records, but if an inquiry ever arises through DHHS or a county attorney, your daily hour log is the fastest way to close it.

The withdrawal process has real legal sequencing that most online guides get wrong — especially in the middle of a school year. The Nebraska Legal Withdrawal Blueprint walks through both the local letter and the NDE filing in the correct order, with a certified mail template, a proration calculator for mid-year withdrawals, and a plain-language Rule 13 checklist updated for 2025/26.

See more United States homeschool guides →