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🎓 Minnesota School Choice, ESAs & Scholarships

Which Minnesota education savings accounts, scholarships and tax credits a homeschool family can use, what they pay for, and where Minnesota stands on school choice — from our Minnesota guide.

Overseen by / administered byHomeschooling: the superintendent of your resident school district receives your reports under Minn. Stat. 120A.24. The K–12 Education Credit (Minn. Stat. 290.0674) and K–12 Education Subtraction (Minn. Stat. 290.0132, subd. 4) are run by the Minnesota Department of Revenue and claimed on your Minnesota income tax return (Form M1).
K–12 Education Credit, tax years 2025 and 2026Refundable credit of 75% of qualifying expenses, up to
,500 per qualifying child in grades K–12. Tax year 2025: the full
,500-per-child maximum applies with adjusted gross income of $75,820 or less, phases down above that, and ends at $81,820 (one or two children), $84,820 (three) or $87,820 plus $3,000 for each child over three. Tax year 2026: phase-out starts at $77,550; limits $83,550, $86,550 and $89,550 plus $3,000 per additional child. Not available if married filing separately.
K–12 Education SubtractionNo income limit and any filing status. Subtract qualifying expenses from taxable income, up to
,625 per child in grades K–6 and
,500 per child in grades 7–12 (grade at the end of the tax year). Expenses used for the credit can't also be used for the subtraction.
Homeschool statusHome-schooled children qualify. The Department of Revenue says it doesn't matter whether a child attends a public, private, parochial or home school, and that a home school must report annually to the local public school district and meet the reporting requirements of Minnesota's compulsory attendance laws. Home school supplies and materials qualify if they're for subjects taught during the normal public school day and aren't primarily religious.
How to claimNo application. Keep itemized receipts and invoices. Claim the credit on Schedule M1ED (carried to Schedule M1REF) and the subtraction on Schedule M1M with your Minnesota return for the year you paid the expenses. You don't send receipts with the return, but Revenue may ask for them.
Homeschool lawAges 7 to 17 (Minn. Stat. 120A.22, subd. 5). Initial report to the resident district superintendent by October 1 (or within 15 days of withdrawing from public school or moving out of a district), then a letter of intent to continue by October 1 each year; required subjects; one of five instructor options; an annual nationally norm-referenced standardized achievement test agreed on with the superintendent (120A.22, subds. 9–11; 120A.24).
School choice statusAs of November 2026, Minnesota has no education savings account, voucher or tax-credit scholarship program. It has the K–12 Education Credit and Subtraction, open enrollment, public charter schools and PSEO. ESA bills introduced in 2025 (HF 19, SF 244, SF 1007) were referred to committee with no further action. Minnesota is not on the IRS list of states taking part in the federal scholarship tax credit for 2027 (as of October 22, 2026).

Where Minnesota stands on school choice (November 2026)

What exists: the K–12 Education Credit and Subtraction (the credit dates to a 1997 special session law); the enrollment options program, which lets a student attend school in a district where the student doesn't live, subject to limits (Minn. Stat. 124D.03); public charter schools, which the law calls public schools and part of the state's system of public education (Minn. Stat. 124E.03); and PSEO, which lets 11th and 12th graders — including home-schooled students — take college courses (Minn. Stat. 124D.09). Charter and online public schools are public schools, not homeschooling.

What doesn't exist: we found no Minnesota law creating an education savings account, voucher or tax-credit scholarship program as of November 2026.

ESA bills in the 2025–2026 Legislature: HF 19 ("Education savings accounts established"; chief author Rep. Kresha, 35 authors) was introduced February 6, 2025 and referred to the House Education Policy Committee; SF 244 (Sen. Rarick) on January 16, 2025 and SF 1007, the "Education Savings Accounts for Minnesota Students Act" (Sen. Lucero), on February 6, 2025 were referred to the Senate Education Policy Committee; HF 2895, an "education empowerment account program" (Rep. Dippel), was referred to House Education Finance on March 27, 2025. The bill status pages show no action after referral.

Changes to the credit: in 2023 the Legislature rewrote the credit's income test (Laws 2023, ch. 64, art. 1, sec. 37); since tax year 2023 it uses adjusted gross income, adjusted each year for inflation. Later bills the Department of Revenue analyzed — SF 4552 (2024), which would have added career and technical education expenses, and HF 779 (2025), which would have allowed an advance payment of the credit — did not change it; the credit statute has not been amended since 2023.

A 2025 homeschool proposal that didn't become law: the Senate's 2025 education policy bill, SF 1740, passed the Senate 39–26 on April 24, 2025 with a new section defining a home school (students related by parent or guardian, at a Minnesota residence) and barring anyone convicted of certain crimes from directing one. The bill went to conference committee. The education law enacted that year (Laws 2025, First Special Session, chapter 10, signed June 14, 2025) did not include that section, and the 2026 Minnesota Statutes have no such provision.

The federal scholarship tax credit: from January 1, 2027, a donor may claim a federal credit of up to

,700 ($3,400 if filing jointly) for cash gifts to a scholarship-granting organization — but only in states that choose to take part and send the IRS a list of organizations. Minnesota is not on the IRS list of participating states for 2027 (as of October 22, 2026). Bills to opt in, HF 3490 (Rep. Myers, introduced February 19, 2026) and SF 3878 (Sen. Rarick, February 26, 2026), were referred to the Education Finance committees; HF 3490 was heard March 10, 2026 without a vote, and neither passed. At that hearing, the Department of Education's director of government relations said the Walz administration does not support the bill (House Session Daily, March 10, 2026). We found no executive order or other official Minnesota filing on the federal credit.

PSEO and religious colleges: a 2023 amendment barring eligible colleges from requiring a faith statement from PSEO students was found unconstitutional in Loe v. Jett (D. Minn. 2025), according to the Revisor of Statutes' note on Minn. Stat. 124D.09.

What it means for homeschool families: Minnesota doesn't pay homeschool costs up front. The K–12 Education Credit and Subtraction give some of the money back at tax time — the refundable credit for families under the income limit, the subtraction for everyone — and PSEO lets 11th and 12th graders take college courses, with the state paying the college for courses taken for high school credit. We make no prediction about 2027 legislation.

Read the full section in our Minnesota guide

Official sources

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

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