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The Tennessee Conservative [By David Seal] –
Despite excellent programs of study, new and scheduled improvement of school facilities, and good public relations efforts, the Jefferson County School District is experiencing a record exodus of students.
As of the last reporting period, parents of 990 students are holding their children out of the Jefferson County School System for private school, religious umbrella schools, and homeschooling.
At the end of each semester, public school districts are required to report data to the Tennessee Department of Education by category on the number of students that are classified as “Non-Public.” Those categories are as follows, Non-Public Categories I, II, II and V; Church Related School Category IV; Church Related Category IV – Home School Umbrella; and Independent Home School.
Since the Tennessee Conservative News started tracking Jefferson County’s Non-Public Enrollment Data in 2022, the district has experienced a 34% increase in students being pulled out of the public system.
On May 13, 2022, the district had a total non-public enrollment of 735 students. As of December 15, 2025, the non-public enrollment was reported at 990 students.
Many homeschool families have fought to keep state regulations at a minimum. However, with school district funding based on student enrollment, and those systems feeling the pinch of student exodus, school administrators are looking for ways to retain students.
Statewide, the number of students that were being held out of the public system at the end of 2024 stood at 154,425. For background on the issue of non-public enrollment, a series of reports is linked here. Jefferson County is one of 144 districts experiencing an exodus of students.
The report featured below is the most recent one filed by Jefferson County Schools, an example of the report that all districts must file near the end of each semester.
Obtaining such reports usually requires a formal records request to be filed with the school system. The following link from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office is a records request form, a PDF with live fields. RecordsRequestForm.pdf
The above referenced request form is a useful tool in obtaining records from virtually any public body in Tennessee.
About the Author: David Seal is a retired Jefferson County educator, recognized artist, local businessman, 917 Society Volunteer, and past Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. He has also served Jefferson County as a County Commissioner and is a citizen lobbyist for the people on issues such as eminent domain, property rights, education, and broadband accessibility on the state level. David is also a 2024 winner of The Tennessee Conservative Flame Award & has received an accolade from the Institute For Justice for successfully lobbing the TN legislature to protect property rights. David can be reached at david@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
2 Responses
I’m so glad to see this. More and more will take their children out of the government schools. They are poisoning our children with lies and propaganda about our history.
Folks are sick of lucifer’s accursed anti-God, dimmercrap ran, pubic ejikashun’s abject failure at true basic education and the leftist indoctrination.