How Long to Keep Homeschool Records: A Six-State Retention Table
Florida sets 2 years and North Carolina sets 1 year for a test result; New York's and Pennsylvania's sources state no retention period at all; Texas requires no records to keep; Colorado's law says permanent, not a number of years.
Checked against the six states' sources on ; next check .
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A retention rule only means something if the source actually states one. Across these six states, that turns out to be true for exactly two of them, in two different shapes: a number of years, and a flat "permanent." The rest either say nothing about how long to keep what they require, or require nothing to keep in the first place. Guessing at the gaps would defeat the point of a page like this, so the table below leaves them exactly as blank as the text does.
The six states, side by side
| State | What's covered | How long | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | The portfolio: the log and the work samples | 2 years | Fla. Stat. § 1002.41(1)(e) |
| Pennsylvania | The portfolio: the log, work samples, grade 3/5/8 test results and evaluation | Not stated | PDE guide |
| New York | Attendance records and quarterly reports | Not stated | 8 NYCRR § 100.10 |
| North Carolina | The year's standardized test result | 1 year after testing | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-557(b) |
| North Carolina | Attendance and immunization records | Not stated | N.C. Gen. Stat. Art. 39 |
| Texas | Nothing — no record is required in the first place | No records required | TEA |
| Colorado | Attendance data, test or evaluation results, immunization records | Permanent | C.R.S. § 22-33-104.5(3)(g) |
Why two cells say "not stated"
New York's regulation requires attendance records to be kept and produced to the district on request, and Pennsylvania's guide sets out exactly what the portfolio holds and when the yearly evaluation is due — but neither source states a number of years, or any other fixed period, for how long the file has to survive afterward. That's not a summary or an inference; it's what the text itself does and doesn't say. Borrowing Florida's 2 years for either state would be inventing a rule neither state's own source states, so this table doesn't do that. If a period turns up in a future revision of either source, the cell changes; until then, "not stated" is the honest answer.
Colorado's answer isn't a blank cell
Colorado's cell isn't empty, and it shouldn't be read the same way as New York's or Pennsylvania's. The statute directly addresses retention and gives a real answer — the records "shall be maintained on a permanent basis by the parent in charge and in control of said program" — it just isn't a number of years. That's a stronger, more specific instruction than either silent state gives, even though it can't be written as "N years" the way Florida's or North Carolina's test-record rule can. Permanent means permanent: there's no point at which Colorado's law says a family may discard these records.
North Carolina's split answer
North Carolina doesn't give one answer for all of its records. Test results have an explicit period — the school "shall be made available... at all reasonable times, for annual inspection" for one year after testing. The separate attendance and immunization records a home school also keeps carry no stated period at all, the same genuine silence as New York's and Pennsylvania's records.
What this means for your own file
Half of these states either say nothing or say "permanent." Given that split, keeping records for as long as a family reasonably can — through the year the child could still be asked to show them, and ideally well past graduation — costs little and closes every gap this table shows. The attendance tracker keeps that log for you as the year runs, and what goes in a portfolio covers what to keep in the first place.
Sources (6)
- 8 NYCRR § 100.10, Home instruction (Cornell LII) law.cornell.edu
- Pennsylvania Department of Education: Home Education and Private Tutoring Guide (May 2026) pa.gov
- N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapter 115C, Article 39 ncleg.gov
- Fla. Stat. § 1002.41, Home education programs leg.state.fl.us
- Texas Education Agency: Home Schooling tea.texas.gov
- C.R.S. § 22-33-104.5, Home-based education (Colorado General Assembly) content.leg.colorado.gov
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