In Minnesota, there’s an amount of money (around $80 per student) that you can get back through your school district each year for things like workbooks, curriculum, testing fees etc. Each district runs their program a little differently, but typically you need to submit a form in the fall requesting the reimbursement so that the district can budget for it. Then you need to submit receipts before the end of their fiscal year to get the reimbursement amount. If you’re in a local homeschool group, it’s good to ask around to see what experience other families have had with your district. As a rule, it’s best to submit receipts for “consumables” as this prevents the school from requesting the materials when you’re finished with them, since they technically purchased them/own them.

To give you an idea of the differences among districts, some expect you to turn in the materials at the end of the school year, and still others don’t run their program as ‘reimbursement’ but instead require that you submit your request for items and the district purchases them directly for you.

If you get reimbursement for an item through your district, you can’t turn around and also claim it on the Mn Income Tax under the Education Credit or Subtraction. That would be ‘double dipping’.

If you are looking for the request for reimbursement paperwork for your district, you might have to ask at your superintendent’s office. It might be available through your district’s website, but the form is often nested with other information making it difficult to identify.