Homeschooling, religious exemptions on the rise in Virginia: VDOE
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- More Virginia students are being homeschooled and receiving religious exemptions this school year, according to data from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE).
Data from the VDOE shows the number of students across the state who have been approved for an absensce of school due to religious training or belief and students who are being taught at home for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.
For the 2024-25 school year, there was a 4.34% increase in at-home instructed students across all grade levels, totaling 56,008. This reflects an increase from 53,680 in the previous school year.
Religious exemptions also increased by 4.83% over the school year, from 6,444 for the 2023-2024 school year to 6,755 the following school year.
This table shows the difference between each school year for at-home instruction and religious exemptions for Henrico, Chesterfield, Richmond, Hanover and Goochland.
County Difference between school years of home instruction Difference between school years of religious exemption Henrico County Public Schools +210 +87 Chesterfield County Public Schools +8 -8 Richmond City Public Schools +10 -8 Hanover County Public Schools +53 +6 Goochland County Public Schools +13 -9
Henrico County Public Schools had the highest increase for both categories over the year. Both Richmond City Public Schools and Goochland County Public Schools saw a decrease in the number of students exempted for religion.
A notable jump in the data from Prince George County shows that there were zero students for home instruction in the previous period, but during the 2024-2025 school year, there were 413.
In Bedford County, the 2023-2024 school year reported 191 students with religious exemptions, but this number decreased to 22 the following year.
