Has the "Lone Star loophole" for hiding dropouts been closed?

Starting this school year, Texas parents must submit a signed statement saying that a withdrawing student intends to study at home. 

The new regulation will close a Lone Star loophole that many believe has been used to hide dropouts.

In 2008, for example, officials at Clear Brook High School certified that 105 students had withdrawn from the school to be home schooled. By 2010 — when the Texas Education Agency called for an audit of the school's records — that number had dropped to 51, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Advocates plan to watch next year's data to see how the documentation changes affect dropout rates, according to the Chronicle, which reports that the advocates now suspect more students will be marked as "returning to their home country" when they drop out — a code that provides significant leeway and requires little proof.