Minnesota Department of Education Homeschool Requirements
The Minnesota Department of Education or Bemidji Area Schools DOES NOT certify or validate any nonpublic or homeschool, diploma or transcript.
According to Minnesota state law, homeschools operating within the boundaries of a public school district must file their registration documentation each year with the school district in which they reside. Each year after the homeschool instructor has provided a Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Initial Registration form, a Letter of Intent to Continue to Provide Instruction form must be completed and submitted by October 1, 2024.
You must indicate on MDE’s Intent to Continue form whether or not there are changes to the information you provided in the full Initial Registration form. Changes include, but are not limited to:
• new students or updated student information,
• students no longer receiving instruction,
• changes to the proposed annual nationally normed achievement-testing plan,
• a student is now in 7th grade and/or age 12 and updated immunization records are attached,
• changes to the instructor(s),
• the homeschool is either newly or no longer accredited by an agency recognized by the Minnesota Nonpublic Education Council.
If you have moved, you must also complete and submit by October 1, 2024, a new Initial Registration form for Unaccredited Nonpublic Schools (including homeschools). This form must also be submitted within 15 days of withdrawing a child from public school or moving out of the district.
Forms can be dropped off or mailed to the Bemidji Area Schools Registration Office located at 502 Minnesota Ave NW, Bemidji, Mn 56601 or emailed to them at registrar@isd31.net. These and other MDE forms and information can be found on their Nonpublic and Homeschools website.
2024-2025 Returning Homeschool Notification Letter
Letter of Intent to Continue to Provide Instruction
Initial Registration Form for Unaccredited Schools (including homeschools)
Shared-Time Classes or Sports/Activities
- If your student is interested in taking an elective course within the school district, please notify the school know when registering your student.
- Homeschooled students can receive special education services through the school district. **Please notify Director of Special Education if your student(s) require services for Special Education**
- School Sports/Activities – Your student can participate in sports/activities.
Homeschool Part Time Enrollment Flyer
Minnesota Department of Education Aids for Nonpublic School Students
The MDE form is due to the Bemidji Area Schools Registration Office by October 1st
School year 2024 – 2025
To participate in the Minnesota Department of Education’s Nonpublic Pupil Aid Program, you must complete and submit by October 1, 2024, the Student Report for Aids to Nonpublic Students (ED-01650-37) form. Each Program Element you select to participate in, you must enter on the form the actual number of students by grade level. If you do not wish to participate in any of the three available Program Elements, you must check the corresponding “non-participation” box on the form.
Eligible educational items purchased on July 1, 2024 through October 1, 2024 associated with the Textbooks, Individualized Instructional Materials, and Standardized Tests Program Element, are reimbursed in the amount up to, but not exceeding, the authorized rate of aid entitlement per eligible pupil allowed by the state for the current school year.
To receive reimbursement for such purchased items, in addition to the submission of a completed Student Report form, a Homeschool Instructional Materials Reimbursement Request form, with attached corresponding purchase documentation and/or receipts, must be completed and submitted to the district by October 1, 2024. Any forms, purchases made, or purchase documentation submitted after the October 1st deadline will not be eligible for this aid or reimbursement.
Per the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), the general conditions of eligibility for education materials are:
1. Secular, neutral, nonideological, and not capable of diversion for religious use.
2. Designed primarily for individual pupil use to attain education objectives in a particular class or program.
3. Available and a benefit of Minnesota public school pupils.
4. Individualized instructional materials are those educational materials, in addition to textbooks, which are used as a complementary source of study in a given class or program and available for the individual use of each pupil in the class or program.
Examples of materials NOT eligible for reimbursement are general classroom use items such as but not limited to, writing or construction paper, notebooks, pens/pencils, scissors, crayons, wall charts/maps, library books, or other reference materials. See MDE’s Education Aids for Nonpublic School Students-Appendix A for additional examples of materials not eligible for reimbursement per the Minnesota Department of Education.
State-determined authorized rates of entitlement per eligible pupil for nonpublic pupil aids for school year 2024-2025 are as follows:
Standardized Tests, and Instructional Materials $120.97
Health Services $81.07
Pupil Guidance and Counseling Services $339.53
Download the Aids for Nonpublic Students form HERE
Download the Homeschool Instructional Materials Reimbursement Request form HERE
Download MDE’s Home-School Questions and Answers updated 06/06/2024 document HERE
