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🧩 Special Needs & Special Education Homeschooling in Mississippi
What Mississippi offers homeschool families of children with disabilities or learning differences — special-needs scholarships, evaluations and services — from our Mississippi guide and articles.
Homeschooling in Mississippi: the basics
- Special education: every district must locate, identify and evaluate children with disabilities (Child Find), and the ESA law says nothing in it negates federal law requiring districts to identify and serve students with disabilities in nonpublic schools or home instruction programs (37-181-3(l)). Children placed by their parents outside public school have no individual right to the full services a public school student would get. Any services come through a services plan and a limited share of federal funds. Ask your district's special education director what it offers home-instructed children.
Read the full section in our Mississippi guide
The ESA, Dyslexia and Nate Rogers scholarships: why homeschoolers can't use them
Education Scholarship Account (Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act, Miss. Code 37-181-1 and following). Run by MDE's Office of Special Education, it reimburses families for private school tuition and certain other expenses for students with disabilities. For 2026–27 the maximum is $8,421. To qualify, a Mississippi student must have had an active IEP, developed by a public school district, within three years of the application, and must be accepted by an eligible school. The law defines an eligible school as a state-accredited special-purpose school, a state-accredited nonpublic school, or a nonpublic school in Mississippi that serves the student's disability or IEP, and adds: "An eligible school does not include a home instruction program under Section 37-13-91." Parents must sign an agreement not to file a home instruction certificate of enrollment, not to enroll the child in public school, and not to use the Dyslexia or Nate Rogers scholarship at the same time. MDE's FAQ adds that tutoring and therapy can't be reimbursed for a student who is homeschooled.
Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship: for students with a dyslexia diagnosis from a licensed psychometrist, psychologist or speech-language pathologist. The scholarship can be used at one of five MDE-approved special-purpose nonpublic schools: Magnolia Speech School (Madison), 3D School (Petal), Lighthouse Academy (Ocean Springs), Innova Prep (Hattiesburg) and The Canopy School (Ridgeland). The program also lets a student transfer to another public school. The 2026–2027 application goes by certified mail to MDE's Office of Elementary Education and Reading.
Nate Rogers Speech-Language Therapy Scholarship: for students in kindergarten through grade 6 (or age 11) whose IDEA eligibility is a speech-language impairment. They must enroll in, and attend in person, an MDE-accredited nonpublic special-purpose school whose main purpose is speech-language therapy. MDE pays the school directly, and the amount is based on the student base cost as appropriated.
What a homeschool family would have to do instead: enroll the child in an eligible private or special-purpose school and stop filing a home instruction certificate of enrollment. Under the ESA, the child also gives up the individual right to a free appropriate public education from the home district while in the program.
Read the full section in our Mississippi guide
Articles for Mississippi families
- Why Mississippi Has No ESA for Homeschoolers: The Three Special-Needs Programs in Plain English
Mississippi does have an Education Scholarship Account, plus a Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship and the Nate Rogers Speech-Language Therapy Scholarship. All three are for students with disabilities, and…
Official sources
- Education Scholarship Account (MDE Office of Special Education)
- Understanding the ESA: questions and answers (MDE)
- 2026–2027 ESA application (MDE)
- 2026–2027 ESA Reimbursement Request Form (MDE)
- Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship (MDE)
- Nate Rogers Speech-Language Therapy Scholarship (MDE)
Summarized from our Mississippi guide (as of October 2026) and articles. Rules change — confirm on the official pages before you act.
More for Mississippi homeschool families
- Mississippi Homeschool Laws & Requirements
- How to Start Homeschooling in Mississippi
- Mississippi School Choice, ESAs & Scholarships
- Homeschool Sports & Activities in Mississippi
- Dual Enrollment & College for Mississippi Homeschoolers
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