News & Alerts

The Fight for Home School Freedom:
The battle between the home school community and the state legislators over ESA’s and Tax Credits is still raging.  We are battling the challenge in Missouri to our hard fought statute keeping a traditional home school (Home Schools in RSMo 167.012) separated from those who want to take the government programs and money (Family Paced Education schools/FPE in RSMo 167.013).  By law, a home school cannot be an FPE school or take government money currently in the MOScholars program, regardless of the similarity in their laws.  Other states are fighting similar battles which FHE monitors and watches, and the pressure has to stay ramped up.  Generations before us fought hard for homeschool freedom across the nation. We have an obligation to preserve it for future generations.
There are similarities in the legislation across the states:

• Refundable credit means you could potentially receive credit for MORE than you actually put in, so it’s no longer just your money.
• Create the rules later and/or very vague rules with lots of loopholes
• Tracking homeschoolers via data collection; unintended registry
• Receipts must be turned in, which can affect all homeschoolers. We are already seeing businesses who want in on the programs and driving curriculum prices up for all homeschoolers.  Those in the program can get the expenses covered, but those that opt out are forced to pay higher prices. So, is it truly voluntary? And it puts co-ops and learning centers at risk when program money requiring receipts are used for expenses in the groups.
• Voluntary until it’s not
• Homeschoolers around the country, including Missouri, have repeatedly told their state legislators they do not want to be included in these programs, but are not being heard.
   

Missouri: SB 53 & SB 195
These are the 2 Tax Credit bills that FHE is opposing. You can find more information on our Capitol Report.  Testimony has been heard in the Education Committee, and these could be brought up for a Committee vote as early as this next week in the Executive Session.  

Idaho: HB 93 - proposes to provide a refundable tax credit up to $5000 per student for allowable education expenses.
Senator Brandon Shippy Video
Some key quotes from the Senator:
“What Government Funds, Government Owns”
“Redistribution of Wealth”

Texas: SB 2 - would establish a school voucher system
Texas and the Conservative Pushback on School : “Parent activist Tracy Hanes of the conservative Families Engaged for Effective Education posted a full-throated reply to Abbott’s call for vouchers”:
"Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) and vouchers are a Trojan horse for government control. By offering taxpayer-funded subsidies to private schools, virtual learning, and homeschool families, the government will ultimately dictate the terms of education in every sector. Once public funding enters, so do regulations, mandates, and oversight—eroding the very freedoms that make private and home education viable alternatives.
“This isn’t “choice”—it’s a complete government takeover, turning students, teachers, and their data into commodities in a system that prioritizes profit and control over genuine learning and local autonomy. Public schools are already captive markets, and universal school choice would pull private and home educators into the same bureaucratic web, ensuring no child is truly free from government influence.”
 
Oklahoma: HB 1934 – Refundable Income Tax Credit and HB 1529 – to remove a traditional home school from the tax credit
Homeschool Oklahoma’s Response
Why We Don’t Want the Option of “Free Money”
“For the money to be helpful to homeschoolers, co-ops will have to accept the funds in payment. If that happens, the curriculum of the entire co-op will then have government money strings attached. That means that the education freedom of every student in the co-op will be compromised, even if they didn’t take the money themselves.”
“What is the current largest government education voucher system? That’s right, college. What do we know about college costs? Are they going up or down? If you guessed “up,” you would be right! “
“The voucher system essentially bribes people who are just leaving the public system to stay within its orbit, and those who have not tasted the free air don’t know what they are missing out on.”
“Government handouts are a drug. Drugs are bad. And we don’t want legislators dealing in our neighborhoods.”
 
Arkansas: HB 1144 – To require a participating school under the Arkansas Children’s Educational Freedom Account Program to comply with the same statutory and Department of Education reporting requirements to which public schools are subject.
Bill Information HB 1144
While this bill does not specifically address home schools, but just private schools, the Educational Freedom program includes vouchers for both. It would not be a stretch to assume that the home school community would also fall under these requirements.  However, it does appear that this bill failed at least this time around.
Education Freedom Accounts Program
Bill to regulate schools that use vouchers fails