Is Homeschooling a Threat
to Public Schools?

Judging by their efforts to lure homeschooling families into dependence on local school districts, the answer is apparently yes.

For the last several years, homeschooling has been the fastest growing educational alternative in the country. Estimates of its growth rate typically range from 15-25% annually. While homeschoolers are notoriously difficult to count, the National Homeschooling Research Institute believes that currently 2.5 million American children are homeschooled today. This adds up to about 5% of America's 52 million K-12 students.

The sheer number of homeschoolers represent a distinct threat to the hegemony of the government school monopoly. Qualitatively, the academic success of homeschoolers, measured by standardized test scores and recruitment by colleges, debunk the myth that parents need to hire credentialed experts to force children to learn. With the aid of the Internet and supplemental tutors, mindful parents can do an excellent job at homeschooling, often teaming up to form local support groups. More importantly, parents can address subject areas that serve children's needs.

Homeschooling also refutes the "more money equals better education" mantra of teacher unions. The average homeschooling family spends approximately 10% of the per pupil costs associated with government schools in achieving these academic results. Multiplied by the number of homeschoolers, even these modest amounts add up to a sizeable market attracting numerous educational entrepreneurs.

Besides challenging the legitimacy of government schools, homeschoolers also pose a more direct economic threat. Funding for government schools is based on attendance, with a national average of almost $6,000 per student. Homeschooled children represent over seven billion dollars out of reach of local government schools and, at its current growth rate, each year more than another billion dollars slips away.

Politically, homeschoolers are a force to be reckoned with when their rights are endangered. The most highly publicized and effective example of their growing political clout occurred in 1994 when the House of Representatives inserted language into an educational appropriations bill that would have required all teachers to be credentialed. Homeschoolers perceived this provision as a threat to their autonomy and overwhelmed phone and fax lines to their representatives until the credentialing language was removed by a 424-1 vote.

Homeschooling's economic and political impact is keenly felt by teacher unions, educational bureaucrats, ideological indoctrinators and other beneficiaries of today's system. What will happen when the growing number of homeschooling families withdraw their political support for the enormous taxes required to fund today's $300 billion government education system?