Exclusive | Homeschooling explodes 200% in NYC as frustrated families reject Big Apples failing public school system
The kids are not alright! The number of New York parents choosing to homeschool has exploded by more than 200% over the past 15 years — the highest rate of growth in all school sectors — as the nation’s biggest public school system struggles with an illiteracy and innumeracy crisis.According to the most recent 2025-2026 figures analyzed by The Post, New York state now has a whopping 53,905 children being homeschooled — a figure that has more than tripled since 2009-10.In New York City, those figures are also rising — with more than 14,000 children being homeschooled at last count.This pace of growth across the state and the city eclipses even the current rate of charter school enrollment — since 2023, homeschooling has risen nearly 8% compared to 3.1% for charter attendance.“For the past few decades, New York’s schools have been in a death spiral of worsening performance and exploding costs,” Zilvinas Silenas, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy think tank, told The Post.“New York’s taxpayers spend $37,000 — the most in the world to educate one kid — yet we lose in reading and mathematics to Mississippi, the poorest state.“It might not be that all parents that homeschool think homeschooling is the best thing in the world.
It could also be that anything – even homeschooling – is better than New York’s government system.” And frustrated parents agreed.Many told The Post they’re opting out because they’re fed up with bloated classrooms and bad results.“So many students are in large classes where they feel intimidated to raise their hands, and parents come to me asking, ‘Why is my smart kid so unhappy at school?’” longtime New York homeschooling advocate Laurie Block Spigel told The Post.“Every teacher and every parent knows that no two kids are the same, yet you have 30 or 35 kids in a classroom, all at different levels.
You’re failing the whole class,” said Spigel, who homeschooled her two sons in Th...