A Nebraska city has backed down and now has decided to affirm that homeschoolers are educated, too.
Just like students at public schools.
The fracas developed when officials in Fremont, Nebraska, refused to allowed Andrew Coates to be considered for a position as a firefighter, even though he’s been a volunteer for several years and already has completed the state requirements to be an EMT.
It was solely because he was homeschooled.
Now a report at the Washington Stand explains that’s changing.
“Following considerable public pressure exerted by a nationwide grassroots campaign in support of Nebraska volunteer firefighter Andrew Coates, whose job application for a full-time position was rejected by the city of Fremont due to him being homeschooled, the city council voted unanimously Tuesday to clarify its hiring regulations to treat homeschool credentials the same as any other educational credentials.”
Coates qualifications appeared not to be in question: The 22-year-old “previously served as a volunteer for the nearby Cedar Bluffs Fire Department for two years, during which time he became a state-licensed EMT and completed 78 college credits, earning a 3.8 GPA.”
But city officials initially demanded that his education be affirmed by an “accredited” school.
In fact, the report confirmed, the requirement for a diploma from an “accredited” building appeared only after Coates already had been rejected.
“This calls into question the claims of some Fremont City Council members, who have insisted that the city’s disqualification of Coates was not a ‘homeschooling issue,'” the report said.
Nonetheless, the eight-member city council unanimously voted Tuesday to make changes.
“As observers are noting, the city council’s decision appears to have come only after groups like Family Research Council brought national attention to the issue. An FRC Action alert sent out last week motivated over 2,000 citizens to contact the city council to demand answers as to why Coates’s application was denied,” the Washington Stand pointed out.
FRC President Tony Perkins said, “What I found interesting is that the city council was complaining about all of the contacts that were being made over the last week since we put a focus on this, but they weren’t addressing it on their own. In fact, a FOIA request showed that the Coates family reached out to the mayor’s office 10 times from April to July trying to get this matter resolved, and only after we had folks from across the country starting to weigh in did they take it seriously and address this.”
Some of that pressure may have been because the American Center for Law and Justice took up Coates’ fight.
The legal organization confirmed it is “stepping in because a homeschool graduate who wants to dedicate his career to saving lives should not be treated like a second-class citizen.”
Great news! The Fremont City Council in Nebraska voted unanimously to reverse the city’s requirement that kept homeschool graduate Andrew Coates from applying for a firefighter position.
Thank you to everyone who prayed and reached out to the city council.
Seth Coates,… pic.twitter.com/pUlbsoccaz
— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) September 30, 2026
“It’s just really encouraging to see Fremont is taking the next step to recognize homeschool graduates,” says Andrew Coates after the city council voted last night to reverse its anti-homeschooling hiring policy and allow him to apply for a firefighter position. pic.twitter.com/ZIXZoRb854
— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) September 30, 2026
Such remedial actions by government officials often will provide that any legal action over the dispute is “moot,” sometimes not, depending on the injuries that resulted.
An expert at the ACLJ said, “Today, millions of students are educated through homeschooling. Their parents make sacrifices to provide them with the education they believe is best. Those students go on to college, careers, military service, first-responder work, and public service. They contribute to their communities just like graduates of traditional public and private schools. In fact, I’ve had the profound privilege of being homeschooled myself, and that experience only deepens the conviction that homeschool graduates should be judged by their character, qualifications, and service.”
The team already had dispatched a letter to Fremont officials putting them on notice that “federal litigation is reasonably anticipated and demanding the immediate preservation of all relevant evidence.”
