Homeschool funding & ESAs in Pennsylvania

Can I get paid to homeschool in Pennsylvania?

No. Pennsylvania has no ESA or voucher that independent homeschooling families can use. Nationwide grants are listed below, each with its own eligibility rules. Romeschool tracks and organizes what you spend, so a receipt is ready the moment a program asks for one — it never files or submits anything on your behalf. It runs the other way too: Pennsylvania's homeschool rules require a test or an evaluation each year. The reviewed rules also record: standardized test in grades 3, 5, 8. The accepted options, and who administers each, are in the testing line below. If the option you choose charges a fee, plan for it.

What does Pennsylvania require of homeschoolers — and what should I plan for?

Pennsylvania requires a test or an evaluation each year. That is the part of the year a family arranges ahead of time. The reviewed rules also record: standardized test in grades 3, 5, 8. Which options Pennsylvania accepts — and who administers each one — is in the testing line below, in the reviewed rules' own words. If the option you choose charges a fee, plan for it. What Pennsylvania asks for — notice, instruction time, testing and records — is set out below, straight from the reviewed rules.

Notice

Yes. Pennsylvania requires homeschooling families to file a notice. Where it goes: Superintendent of the resident school district. How: Notarized affidavit (or unsworn declaration) filed annually. When: Before the program begins the first year — the first affidavit may be filed at any point in the school year, but the program does not legally exist until it is on file. Then by August 1 every year after. The affidavit names the supervisor, each child and the child's age, and the address and telephone number of the home education program site. It carries an outline of proposed education objectives by subject area, a statement that the required subjects are taught in English, evidence that the child has been immunized under 24 P.S. § 13-1303(a), evidence that the child has received the Article XIV school health services for their age or grade level — the vision, hearing, height and weight, tuberculosis and scoliosis screenings, the comprehensive physicals and the dental examinations — an assurance that the program will meet the section's requirements, and a certification that the supervisor, every adult living in the home and anyone having legal custody has not been convicted of the offenses listed in 24 P.S. § 1-111(e) in the five years before the affidavit. An unsworn declaration carries the same items and is signed under penalty of perjury instead of being notarized.

Testing or evaluation

Yes. Pennsylvania requires a test or another accepted form of evaluation. How often: Portfolio evaluation annually; standardized test in grades 3, 5, 8. Accepted options: annual portfolio evaluation by a qualified evaluator (every year, all grades) and standardized achievement test in grades 3, 5 and 8 in reading/language arts and mathematics — the statewide PSSA, or one of the 11 nationally normed tests on the Department of Education's approved list; the child's parent or guardian may not administer it. Two separate requirements that stack. (1) Every year, at every grade, a qualified evaluator reviews the portfolio, interviews the child and certifies whether an appropriate education is occurring; the supervisor sends that certification — not the portfolio — to the superintendent by June 30. (2) In grades 3, 5 and 8 the child also takes a standardized achievement test in reading/language arts and mathematics: the statewide PSSA, or one of the 11 nationally normed tests the Department of Education has approved. The child's parent or guardian may not administer it, and the family pays for an alternative test and its administration. A qualified evaluator is a licensed clinical or school psychologist; a Pennsylvania-certified teacher with at least two years of experience grading at the level being evaluated (K–6 or 7–12); or a nonpublic school teacher or administrator with at least two years of Pennsylvania teaching experience within the last ten years at that level. Someone with other qualifications may evaluate only with the prior consent of the superintendent of the district of residence. The evaluator may never be the supervisor or the supervisor's spouse.

Days and hours

Pennsylvania's rule: 180 days or 900 hours a year at the elementary level (grades K–6), or 180 days or 990 hours a year at the secondary level (grades 7–12). Days or hours — meeting either one satisfies the requirement, and both are not required, per 24 P.S. § 13-1327.1(c). The day option counts 180 days no matter how many hours you school in a day, and the hour option counts hours no matter how many days. The statute does not itself say which figure the portfolio log must record; it is the Department of Education's guide, revised May 2026, that tells families the log must demonstrate the option they chose, and that a family documenting days need not write down the hours in each day.

Records

Pennsylvania requires these records: portfolio — a log made at the time of instruction, naming by title the reading materials used, plus samples of the student's writing, worksheets, workbooks and creative work; standardized test results (grades 3, 5, 8); and annual written evaluation by a qualified evaluator. The portfolio is evaluated annually; the evaluator's certification (not the portfolio) is submitted to the superintendent by June 30. The log is made as the instruction happens and designates the reading materials by title (24 P.S. § 13-1327.1(e)(1)). The statute does not say the log must record days or hours; the Department of Education's guide, revised May 2026, says it must demonstrate the 180 days or the hours the family chose.

Full Pennsylvania homeschool requirements →

Nationwide grants

• ACT Today! Grant · Autism Care Today
  For U.S. families of a child with an autism diagnosis (priority to household income under $100k).
  Open to any family of a child with autism — not homeschool-specific, but useful for therapy costs.
• Dyslexia Services Foundation Grant · Dyslexia Services Foundation
  For low-income U.S. children with dyslexia who cannot otherwise afford treatment (need shown via free/reduced lunch, Medicaid, or SNAP).
  Typically identified through a teacher or provider; not homeschool-specific.
• HSLDA Compassion Curriculum Grant · Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)
  For HSLDA members with significant financial need (legal custody of a child 6-19, homeschooling 3+ months).
  You must privately fund your homeschool (not receiving ESA or other public funds).
• HSLDA Disaster Relief Grant · Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)
  For homeschooling families (child 6-19) with physical disaster damage in the past 18 months.
• MyGOAL Autism Grant · MyGOAL Inc.
  For the primary caregiver of a child under 18 with autism, with demonstrated financial need.
  Open to any family of a child with autism — not homeschool-specific.
• Our Military Kids Grant · Our Military Kids
  For children (1-18) of deployed National Guard/Reserve members (60+ days) or of post-9/11 combat-injured service members and veterans.
  Funds organized, provider-led activities (not parent-taught core instruction).
• UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation Grant · UnitedHealthcare Children's Foundation
  For U.S. children aged 16 or under with commercial (non-public) health insurance, subject to income guidelines.
  Medical (not education) funding — useful for special-needs homeschoolers' therapy costs.

Full details, amounts and deadlines for every program →