Montana Notice of Intent to Homeschool: MCA §20-5-109 Explained

Montana's homeschool law is among the least burdensome in the country. Under Montana Code Annotated §20-5-109, the state's primary filing requirement is an annual notification — a document you send once per school fiscal year to the county superintendent to establish the home-school exemption. But the NOI trips up many families because of where it goes (not the school), what it actually requires (less than most county forms suggest), and what it does not require (which is almost everything schools tend to ask for).

What MCA §20-5-109 Actually Requires

The statute sets four requirements for a home school; the Notice of Intent is the annual-notification component:

1. Annual notification to the county superintendent in each school fiscal year of the student's attendance
2. Attendance records maintained and made available to the county superintendent upon request
3. Minimum instructional hours — 720 hours for grades 1–3 and 1,080 hours for grades 4–12
4. An organized course of study covering English language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, health enhancement, and the arts

Those are the four statutory requirements for the home-school exemption. The NOI is not a curriculum-approval application: it does not need to include curriculum provider names, teaching methodology, sample lesson plans, daily schedules, immunization records, building inspection certifications, or any other information that some county forms request. HB 778, effective May 13, 2025, removed the immunization-record and building health-and-safety requirements from the home-school rules.

If a county form asks for those things, the form is overreaching the statute. You are only legally required to provide what §20-5-109 specifies.

Where the NOI Goes — and Why It Matters

This is the most common confusion in Montana's homeschool process. The Notice of Intent does not go to:

• Your child's school principal
• The school district superintendent
• The district office

It goes to the county superintendent of schools. This is an elected or appointed county official whose office is located at the county courthouse — entirely separate from the school district's administrative structure. In most Montana counties, the county superintendent is a different person from anyone associated with your child's school.

To find the correct filing address, search for "[your county name] county superintendent of schools Montana" — the county website will list the office contact and address. In larger counties like Yellowstone, Gallatin, and Missoula, the county superintendent's office has its own dedicated staff and may have a specific NOI form they prefer you use.

Filing Timing

Filing timing depends on when you start homeschooling:

• Starting at the beginning of a school year: File before the first day of the new public school term
• Starting mid-year (switching from school to homeschool at any other time): File immediately as part of the transition and ensure the annual notification for that school fiscal year is on file

The filing should be made as part of the transition, not held until the school processes the withdrawal. Families who wait for school confirmation can create an avoidable gap in the school's attendance records.

The NOI must be refiled annually. It is not a one-time filing.

County Forms That Go Beyond the Statute

Several Montana counties distribute NOI forms that request information beyond what MCA §20-5-109 requires. Yellowstone County (Billings), Gallatin County (Bozeman), and Missoula County have each had versions of forms requesting:

• Curriculum provider or textbook information
• Teaching schedule or daily hours breakdown
• Immunization records (now removed by HB 778)
• Building or facility safety documentation (also removed by HB 778)

If you receive a county form that includes these fields, you have two options. You can complete only the statutory fields — your name, the student's name, the county, and the applicable school fiscal year — and submit the form with the excess fields blank, attaching a brief note citing §20-5-109. Or you can skip the county form entirely and submit your own NOI document that includes only what the statute requires, addressed to the county superintendent.

Using your own statutory NOI format is legal and has the advantage of not implying by omission that you refused to answer optional fields — you are simply submitting what the law requires.

What a Statutory NOI Looks Like

A compliant NOI for Montana should identify the student, county, and school fiscal year and state that the student will attend a home school. It can also state the home's compliance with the statutory hours, organized-course, and attendance-record requirements. Formatted as a letter, it might read:

[Date]

[County Name] County Superintendent of Schools [Address]

Dear County Superintendent,

Pursuant to Montana Code Annotated §20-5-109, I am providing notice of my intent to provide home school instruction for the [school fiscal year].

Students receiving instruction: [Child's Name], age [X] [Child's Name], age [X] (if applicable)

The home school will provide the minimum aggregate hours of instruction required by MCA §§20-1-301 and 20-1-302 and will include an organized course of study covering English language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, health enhancement, and the arts. Attendance records will be maintained and made available upon request, as provided by law.

[Your Name] [Your Address] [Your Phone/Email]

That document provides the annual notification and records the home's commitments under §20-5-109. It does not reference a specific curriculum, does not identify a school name, and does not volunteer information the statute does not require.

The NOI and the Withdrawal Letter Are Separate

Families switching from public school to homeschooling mid-year often ask whether they need both a withdrawal letter to the school principal and the NOI to the county superintendent. The answer is yes for a complete transition — both documents serve different purposes, but only the NOI is the statutory annual notification.

The withdrawal letter handles the school's enrollment and attendance records. The NOI is the statutory notification that establishes the home-school exemption. Sending one without the other leaves a gap: either your child is still technically enrolled and accruing absences, or you are homeschooling without the exemption that MCA §20-5-109 requires.

After You File

Once you have filed the NOI with the county superintendent, Montana requires nothing further in terms of ongoing reporting. There is no:

• Follow-up inspection
• Mid-year check-in
• Portfolio submission
• Standardized testing requirement

You are required to maintain attendance records at home and make them available to the county superintendent upon request; you do not submit them routinely to the county or the district. The recurring filing obligation is the annual notification for each school fiscal year, while the hours, course-of-study, and record requirements continue as you homeschool.

Getting the NOI Right

The statute is simple, but the county-level variation in forms and expectations means families routinely either over-report (using county forms that ask for curriculum details they are not required to provide) or file with the wrong office (sending the NOI to the district instead of the county superintendent).

The Montana Legal Withdrawal Blueprint includes a statutory NOI template that complies with MCA §20-5-109 without volunteering excess information, complete county superintendent contact details for all Montana counties, and guidance on handling county forms that exceed statutory requirements.

See more Montana guides →