Nebraska has become the second state in the country to require a waiting period before a child can be pulled from public school into homeschooling when the parent or guardian is under an active child-welfare investigation. LB1224, sponsored by Sen. Megan Hunt and folded into the omnibus education bill LB937, was signed into law April 16, 2026.
Ostensibly: to stop "reactive withdrawals" — yanking a child out of school the moment an abuse investigation opens, which severs the contact that would catch the harm.
Probably: a string of documented Nebraska abuse cases, plus the national attention on West Virginia's "Raylee's Law," gave the bill the push to clear a friendly legislature.
Under the law, a withdrawal to homeschool is paused for 14 days once a Division of Children and Family Services investigation is active. The state estimates just over 18,000 Nebraska children were homeschooled ("exempt") in 2025–26, and for the overwhelming majority this changes nothing — it only bites when an investigation is already open.
The politics are unusual: the bill passed unanimously, yet HSLDA and Nebraska homeschool groups opposed it, arguing it tramples due process by restricting a family before any finding of wrongdoing. Child-welfare advocates counter that reactive withdrawal shows up in a disproportionate share of the worst abuse outcomes.
Bill sponsor Sen. Hunt said she was inspired by West Virginia's "Raylee's Law," named for an 8-year-old whose death followed a withdrawal to homeschool during a CPS investigation. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education backed Nebraska's version; HSLDA called it a violation of families' due-process rights. The law also bars anyone convicted of specific crimes against children from providing homeschool instruction.