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🧩 Special Needs & Special Education Homeschooling in Arkansas

What Arkansas offers homeschool families of children with disabilities or learning differences — special-needs scholarships, evaluations and services — from our Arkansas guide and articles.

Special education when you homeschool

Finding and evaluating your child: public school districts must identify and evaluate students ages 3 through 21 who may have a disability. That includes children in private schools and children who are homeschooled (6 CAR § 130-301). If you suspect a disability, contact your local school district to start a referral and evaluation.

Services: under DESE's home school rules, homeschooled students with disabilities get the same consideration for special education services that IDEA gives private school students. This doesn't give them or their parents the procedural rights of IDEA Part B (6 CAR § 33-107). DESE says this does not guarantee services to any one student. For privately placed children, the district consults with families, sets aside a share of its federal special education money and makes the final decisions about services. No child has an individual right to the services they would get in public school, and services may differ in amount from what public school students receive (6 CAR § 130-1406, § 130-1407). A child the district chooses to serve gets a services plan, and the district provides transportation to a separate service site if the child needs it (6 CAR § 130-1403, § 130-1408). Ask your district how it treats homeschooled students and what services it offers. You don't need any certification to homeschool a child with special needs.

EFA and IDEA: the LEARNS Act requires DESE to tell parents of students with IDEA disabilities that joining the Education Freedom Account program is a parental placement under federal law. DESE must also explain the rights parentally placed students have (Ark. Code § 6-18-2508). The higher Succeed Scholarship amount for EFA is listed with the EFA facts above. For questions, contact the EFA office at 501-683-1876 or ade.efa@ade.arkansas.gov.

Read the full section in our Arkansas guide

Articles for Arkansas families

Official sources

Summarized from our Arkansas guide (as of September 2026) and articles. Rules change — confirm on the official pages before you act.

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