President-Elect Trump

To whom it may concern

We write today regarding your education platform for your second term of presidency. It is clear that there is something inherently problematic with the current state of public education in the country. The pandemic had a negative impact on K-12 education that children are still in the process of recovering from.

We are a group that represents thousands of families who educate their children at home. The act of homeschooling itself is the greatest example of parental rights in education, which you have stated to support. Obviously, we agree. We believe that k-12 education of children is the responsibility and right of families and communities, not that of government. With this, we support the goal of transferring oversight of education back to the states.

However, there are other aspects of your education agenda that we strongly disagree with, such as expanding Education Savings Accounts to homeschool families. This may seem like an odd stance considering that we are a group of homeschooling parents but below provides an explanation of our firm stance on this issue.

Home education has always been a parental right, which was clarified in Meyers v. Nebraska (1923). Since the pandemic, there has been a sharp increase in parents embracing their parental rights, withdrawing their children from public schools, and homeschooling their children, which can be expected to lead to numerous benefits for children. Home education can greatly affect academic achievement, social development, and post-homeschooling success.

​Several studies have concluded that home education is positively related to academic performance. This is likely related to the individualized and more student-centered instruction that home-educated children receive, as well as home-educated students having the freedom to study subjects that interest them the most. Home education is also flexible, allowing students to study at times that best suit their schedule and needs.

​Home education has great advantages for the socialization of students despite the claim that the public school system is needed to teach skills and norms for interacting with others. The average home-educated student interacts with a large number of people each day. While they spend more time with siblings and adults than public school students, home education restructures the social world encouraging mixed-age interactions. Peer connections are based on common interests, rather than proximity. Peer associations are more robust among homeschoolers, exposing them to cultural diversity and providing opportunities to interact with people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, religions, abilities, and ethnicities. Homeschoolers are frequently involved in a wide variety of social, sporting, co-curriculum, government, work, educational, religious, and service activities outside of the home. Additionally, homeschoolers tend to have a better self-concept and higher self-esteem than public school students. And, because of their diverse social environment, homeschoolers tend to have much better social skills than public school students.

​In terms of success after graduating, homeschooled students prove to be well prepared to handle the rigors of college academics and score equal to or higher than public school students on academic preparedness related to verbal, writing, and critical thinking skills. Homeschool students repeatedly are well prepared to enter the workforce, moving easily into entrepreneurial and professional positions. They are also more likely to be involved in their community and to report satisfaction with their education, life, and economic conditions.

​The above benefits of home education are based on parent-led independently funded home education. Parents serve as the principals, teachers, assistants, administrators, etc. of their own “school.” No two home “schools” look the same as they are tailored specifically to their children. These are home educators who want to educate their children, they are intrinsically motivated to do so.

Because of the independent and individualized nature of home education, we strongly oppose any form of government funding for home education and any expansion of Education Savings Accounts to homeschool. Such funding will provide government officials (state based on your agenda to return education to the states) cause to oversee and further regulate home education. In many states where such funding has occurred, state government officials ask for accountability, increase oversight of homeschool families, mandate additional requirements of home education, and require end-of-year testing. These acts have harmed home education communities in those states and have led to a business model of home education that resembles the current failing public school system. Florida is just one example. However, there are many others within the United States. Adding such regulations and restrictions gravely reduces parental rights in education, which is a hallmark of your education agenda for your second term. Such regulations and restrictions will also diminish any advantages that are usually gained among home-educated children as the model is no longer one that is parent-led and independent. This is why legal groups for home educators have historically opposed any government funding for homeschooling.

While homeschoolers support the education agenda of emphasizing parental rights and returning the responsibility of education to the states, we ask that you abandon the inclusion of expanding Education Savings Accounts to homeschool families and allow parents to fully exercise their rights in educating their children.

Thank you for your support of parental rights!