Consider 
the postage stamp; its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.

Josh Billings

We never know the love of our parents for us until we become parents.

Henry Ward Beecher

It seems everyone with school-aged children is talking about charter schools. Many are thinking, “This deal is too good to pass up: I can have my children educated outside of the public school system and have the government still pay the bill!” They believe it is the best of both worlds. Charter schools along with educational vouchers appear to be harmless since parents are only reacquiring their tax money.

 Is it really that simple?  Let’s look at charter schools, especially virtual charter schools, and vouchers a little closer. Let’s look at them from the perspective of freedom-- not from the perspective of what “freebies” we can receive from the government.

I am afraid the soul of the homeschooling movement is at stake. How we respond to virtual charter schools and vouchers will determine the extent homeschooling remains free from government controls in the future.

To accurately understand this issue, we must first define the terms.

What Are Vouchers and Charter Schools?
Government educational vouchers constitute a legislatively specified amount of government money given to parents to spend on their child’s education expenses. The money often can be used for public or private education. At present, there are only a handful of state government voucher programs for education in existence.  The courts have struck down most of them. No federal educational voucher program exists. . . yet.

Supporters of government educational vouchers summarize the benefits this way.  Vouchers create competition, giving private education programs an “even playing field” when competing with government funded public schools. This, they say, will improve the quality of all education programs. Besides, it is the parents’ money in the first place and they are merely getting their tax dollars back.

A much more common educational program is the “charter school.” “Charter schools” are a type of public schools. The school is established by a "charter" that lists the school's mission, educational program, and methods of assessment. Charter schools answer to the state or local school board for accessing the students and verifying academic progress. They are completely government funded. 

Most charter schools operate as an institutional school, i.e. a “brick and mortar” school that children actually attend.  Those types of charter schools do not really affect homeschoolers.  The “virtual charter schools,” on the other hand, greatly impact the homeschool movement. Other names for these type of charter schools are “on-line” school or “cyber school” that operate as homeschool programs.

Charter schools now exist in 37 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The Center for Education Reform estimates on its website that there are over 2,000 charter schools operating with more that 500,000 enrolled in these schools.

Supporters of charter schools claim that creating competition in the educational market will result in more options and a higher quality education. The idea is that if public charter schools draw enough students away from the regular public schools, the resulting lack of funds will force public schools to come up with creative alternatives to bring students (and the funding that comes with them) back into the system. Additionally, proponents claim that the charter schools provides an innovative alternative of schooling that allows creative approaches to teaching, freed from the strict rules and regulation of the public school system. They point out that charter schools or virtual charter schools provide a protective environment—a smaller “private” school or home environment--where students can pursue their own styles of learning.

An increasing number of homeschoolers are examining the possibility of enrolling full-time or part-time in “cyber schools” or homeschool programs operated by these public charter schools or directly by regular public schools. Charter schools operate on taxpayer dollars, so there is virtually no cost for those enrolled. Other advantages cited by homeschoolers to participation in these “virtual” charter schools are the accredited high school diploma, free computer, internet access, software, and support by certified teachers.

With government vouchers and virtual charter schools and public schools offering all of these benefits, we at the Home School Legal Defense Association often gets questions of why we would oppose such excellent educational options.

Freedom is the Answer
Freedom is the answer. Freedom, I believe, is more important than government "freebies."  

Over the last 16 years, I have worked at the Home School Legal Defense Association helping to win the right of families to homeschool with minimal regulations. Many of these battles took place in the courts and legislatures throughout the country. I saw first-hand the tremendous sacrifice and risk parents took to follow God’s leading to train their children at home. These families faced fines, jail, and even the threat of the state taking their children away. The families held on to their convictions and God honored them in an incredible way. After 15 years of litigation and legislative battles, we won the right to homeschool in all 50 states.

Of course, the battle to maintain this freedom continues as school officials harass homeschool families with illegal requirements and teacher’s unions and other professional education organizations have legislation introduced to restrict homeschool freedoms. A survey by the American School Board Journal in February 1997, of over 1000 public school executives found that 71 percent did not believe homeschoolers were regulated enough! Ninety-five percent of the superintendents and principals believed anything is better than homeschooling. 

The National Education Association passes a resolution each year condemning homeschooling and urging for legislation to be enacted in each state to require homeschools to taught by certified teachers and have their curriculum approved by the state. The prejudices against homeschooling have not disappeared.

But our hard-fought freedom remains intact for now. Private homeschooling, with no help from the government, is thriving. The studies all show homeschoolers on the average are academically above average from the elementary level all the way through college.  I document this and the general success of homeschooling in my book, “Home Schooling: The Right Choice,” available from HSLDA at 540-338-5600 or www.hslda.org. Homeschoolers have earned the right to be left alone.

All of this success has been achieved without the government’s money. We have had many victories before the Congress and the state legislatures because we are not asking for a handout, but simply to be left alone. 

This liberty is at risk if homeschoolers begin crawling back to the government to drink from the public trough. This is the same government that once heavily restricted or prohibited homeschooling altogether. If we take the government’s money or services through virtual charter schools, we will become dependent on government money. As the controls are added, we will not be able to break free.  

As homeschoolers “yoke” together with the public schools through virtual charter school programs and cyber schools, the public schools and the state will once again dictate to us our curriculum, teacher qualifications, and methods.

This is not idle conjecture. It is already happening.

Government Home Schooling in Alaska
It is important to remember the old and true adage: "There is no such thing as a free government service." Government money always comes with government strings. Governments will demand accountability for funding. States want to be assured that no fraud is involved and that the monies are not used for an improper purpose. The types of regulations over parents who receive funding will depend on the type of government in power. The most common concern for the government is that the children learn certain concepts and progress academically.

Our government has the responsibility to spend our money frugally. For the government to give money to homeschoolers to participate with charter schools without any conditions would be irresponsible.

Virtual charter schools must be accountable to the state or local school authorities. In addition to dictating the curriculum and teaching styles, they can impose requirements on the parents far beyond that which is required by state homeschool laws, in order to assure that the parents are teaching the children "appropriately."

The Alaskan government program is typical of many virtual charter school homeschool programs springing up throughout the country.

On June 4, 1997, Alaska enacted the best homeschool law in the nation. Alaska's law has no teaching qualifications for parents, no regulation at any level of government, no notice to anyone of the parents' decision to conduct the home education, no registration with the state, no reporting to anyone of any information about the home education program, no testing of the children, no required subjects, and no evaluation of the program by anyone.

Despite having more freedom than any other state, a majority of homeschooling families are choosing to enroll their children in a public school program known as Interior Distance Education of Alaska (I.D.E.A.). Interestingly, this statewide program of correspondence study from the Galena School District was begun in June of 1997, just at the time that the new homeschool law was enacted. According to the information disseminated by Galena School District, the desire of the public school officials is "to provide educational, emotional, intellectual, and financial support to those who would like to work in partnership with a public school district."

Families who enroll their children in I.D.E.A. are provided curriculum materials, use of a computer with access to the Internet and assistance from a certified teacher, among other services. However, public funds may not be used to purchase curriculum materials for teaching core subjects if the materials are distinctively religious in content. (Ironically, one of the reasons most often given by parents who have decided to teach their children at home is that they object to the atheistic content of public school curricula.)

The dangers of these types of government homeschool programs are clearly apparent in a letter from Carol Simpson, the Alaska Department of Education coordinator of their homeschool program.  

This is a letter to a Christian speaker and author who was scheduled to sell books and speak at 5 IDEA meetings throughout Alaska. At that last minute, it was determined her books were "Christian" and could not be sold or promoted at the IDEA conferences. Nor could homeschoolers get reimbursed if they purchased these "Christian" books for their homeschool program. Alaska is in the process of creating an approved list of secular homeschool books. Also notice from the letter how gradual the changes have been. At first, the government paid for Christian homeschool textbooks. Once 75% of homeschoolers in Alaska became dependent on the government funds, the rules have changed.

On September 11, 2001, Carol Simpson wrote,

“ . . .A brief note of history is in order. When IDEA started in summer of 1997, we began from the premise that homeschooling parents know their kids best and should be free to use any curricular materials that they deemed most appropriate. We bought nearly anything anyone wanted, including Bob Jones, Alpha Omega, A Beka, etc. By November of that year, the Department of Education (DOE) made a new regulation prohibiting school districts from purchasing religious curricular materials. We have since then maintained the policy that the parents can use whatever they like, although their purchases are now more restricted.”

“The Attorney General of the State of Alaska advised us that we could not purchase anything that is an advocacy of a sectarian or denominational doctrine. In other words, we are prohibited from purchasing anything that advocates a particular religious viewpoint to the exclusion of others. It is often a fine line, and no doubt we often err either way. . .”  

“Additionally, the state can audit a school district anytime they like and do so on a regular basis. IDEA was the first program to do what we do: operate state-wide, offer parents the freedom to choose their own curricular materials, require little reporting, encourage individuality in education, etc. IDEA was wildly successful, going from 0 students in mid-June 1997 to 1157 students 10 weeks later. Now, of course, there are many similar programs. “

“As a result, the state announced last winter that they would begin comprehensive audits of each of these type of programs. They began with two smaller programs (we are by far the largest) last spring and will audit us at some point this year. We have been warned several times by a high official in the DOE that we need to be extra-careful about the issue of buying "religious" curricula, as that is an area that they are targeting, and the rumor is that we still buy things that the state has disallowed.”  

The government homeschool coordinator then proceeded to tell the homeschool speaker who they had invited to speak at their 5 government homeschool conferences that she could not sell her books at the conferences. She explained, “I realize that your books are not "Christian books" and that any religious expression in them is incidental, not the focus of the book. However, we must be strict in our obedience to the letter and spirit of the law, honoring our governmental authorities . . . we must be careful not to give the appearance of promoting sectarian materials. As such, we cannot allow you to sell or promote these books in workshops that we are paying for . . .. Also, we want to avoid the appearance of promoting sectarian materials through your workshops as well. Please do not include references to faith or an emphasis on the inclusion of Biblical teaching in your presentations.”

This letter very plainly explains the danger to homeschooler’s freedom posed by these government homeschool programs. 

I have talked to some parents who tell me the various ways they circumvent this by still use the state government’s money to buy Christian textbooks.  The dependence on government money is encouraging people to lie!

The refusal to reimburse for any Christian curriculum is not the only problem. Additionally, students in grades 4, 8, and 11 must take the standardized tests that Alaska uses for public school students at a test site designated by public school officials, and the tests must be administered by a certified teacher approved by the Galena School District. All I.D.E.A. students are required to take any assessment mandated by the Alaska State Department of Education of public school students in grades 5, 7, and 10. As further evaluation of the student, each parent must report to Galena School District the progress of all students each semester. High school students are required to submit to a yearly interview with a representative from I.D.E.A. in order to establish a transcript.

In final analysis, the “freebies” are not so free after all.  The price is actually too high.  The price is a gradual but steady loss of freedom, control, and independence.

Please continue on to Part II of this article.

[i].  Friesen, Lynda, “Vouchers: Free Ride or Hidden Trap?” Home School Court Report, July/August 1992, p.4.
[ii]. Riley, Richard, U.S. Secretary of Education during a September 20, 1995 radio interview, The Diane Rehm Show, National Public Radio
[iii]. Riley, Richard, U.S. Secretary of Education, “Third Annual State of American Education Address,” Maplewood-Richmond Heights Senior High School; St. Louis, Missouri; February 28, 1996.
[iv]. Miller, John J., “Opting Out,” The New Republic, November 30, 1992, p.13.