By Carolyn Martin (CHEC Director of Government Relations)
Government Funding Puts Spotlight on Homeschool Law
Did you know that the Homeschool Law is actually an exemption to the Compulsory Attendance Law which mandates all children attend public school? The homeschool law acknowledges that parents can lawfully provide for their children’s education free from government oversight.
Over the last several years there have been efforts to expand government-funded homeschool programs, by either creating new programs or gobbling up private programs. These programs have brought much unwanted attention to the homeschool law. During the Colorado Board of Education (BOE) meeting last week (February 15th), the staff leading the conversation regarding their proposed rules around financing public schools stated that they are seeing de facto Education Saving Accounts (ESAs) or Vouchers being established through some third-party education contractors. Additionally, CDE has seen programs asking for reimbursement for classes taught by parents. CDE staff told the BOE, “Parent-led instruction would not count as publicly funded instruction … A child enrolled in homeschool parent-led instruction is part of the nonpublic home-based education program (homeschool law). Protections exist for this. A parent who provides instruction … shall not be subject to the Colorado educator licensing act … so there’s a protection for homeschooling parents because they are providing the instruction. The legislature further emphasizes this point by noting that CDE does not have jurisdiction over homeschool” (emphasis added). Government funding that reimburses parents for educational expenses or teaching is against the law.
In the 1980s, we fought to gain freedom from the school district’s control over our homeschools. Our homeschool law clearly lays out the lack of jurisdiction the school district has when parents choose to homeschool. We don’t need to be licensed teachers. We determine our curriculum. We are not under the oversight of any public school district or board. But we cannot expect those same freedoms when we enter into the government-run school system for classes or services. They control that arena.
Across the country, many states are establishing ESAs, scholarships, or other forms of government funding for homeschoolers. This expansion has brought with it unwanted repercussions. In West Virginia, the year after passing a bill to fund all education choices, the legislature sought to put additional requirements on those not receiving the funding. In Oklahoma, a bill to require a background check for every adult living in a home where homeschooling takes place was introduced this year by a conservative lawmaker. Michigan homeschoolers are fighting against a bill requiring them to register with the state and stop the possibility of more regulation. Florida saw an increase in their private school tuition after passing an expansive ESA program, and Arizona put tighter controls on the definition of a “qualified expense” limiting the market for homeschool products.
A bill, SB24-122 Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, will be in committee on February 28th. It is an attempt to set up government-funded ESAs for private school and homeschool students who leave the public school system. Three times it mentions the homeschool law. If this bill passes as it is, it will tie the homeschool law to a government funding mechanism for the first time. This is unacceptable. Please, read the bill and email the sponsor (Senator Kirkmeyer) and those on the Senate Education Committee to let them know you don’t want this bill!
All these efforts to gain money from the government for homeschoolers are putting a spotlight on the homeschool law and thereby inviting the scrutiny of lawmakers, many of whom are opposed to the liberties that the homeschool law protects. Unfortunately, the side who is in control of our state right now does not believe parents are capable of taking care of their children, much less educating them. Our law is not set in stone. Lawmakers can change it at any time. The more they examine our homeschool law, the deeper in danger our freedoms become. This wave of funding homeschoolers with government money has hit our shores and we must resist it if we want to be free!
Trusting in the mighty power and grace of Jesus,
Carolyn Martin
CHEC Director of Government Relations
Carolyn@CHEC.org
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