IN-DEPTH: Most Conservatives Praise Education Savings Accounts, Virginia’s Largest Homeschooling Group Has a Different View

A guinea pig sits on homework during homeschooling. (Dan Barrett/Unsplash)

As more states introduce school choice bills and adopt government education savings accounts (ESAs) programs, Virginia’s largest homeschooling organization is weary of government ESA programs because they are sure it will lead to mandates and interference.

Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV) Director of Support & Government Affairs Yvonne Bunn told The Epoch Times that HEAV opposes Virginia’s ESA legislation in its current form.

The government is increasingly deciding what kids should learn, and the homeschool community does not want to be told what to teach or how to teach it, said Bunn, and while the left has captured public schools and teaching training programs in order to disseminate radical ideas, “they have no control over private schools and homeschools.”

A homeschool portfolio chronicles the student's progress throughout the year. (Iren_Geo/Shutterstock)

ESAs might change all of that.

ESAs involve state governments putting funds into an electronic account, which is to be accessed by the parents for their child’s education needs. ESAs vary from state to state, but most of the funds cover private school tuition and fees, online learning programs, private tutoring, community college costs, higher education expenses, and other preapproved learning services and materials.

However, Bunn is concerned that ESAs could change all that. “Any time the government gives out money, there are strings attached to that,” Bunn said during a recent interview with The Epoch Times.

Mike Donnelly, a homeschool dad, former senior counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), and now vice president at the yes. every kid. foundation. agrees with Bunn on this point.

“What the government funds, the government controls,” Donnelly said during a May 25 virtual panel discussion hosted by the Cato Institute and attended by homeschooling policy experts and advocates. The 60-minute discussion covered a wide array of concerns homeschoolers have about ESAs.

Donnelly said most homeschoolers do not want the government to have that kind of control.

Currently, homeschools and private schools in Virginia are free from government mandates and can decide what they want to teach based on their values, beliefs, and what best suits their child. However, if homeschooling parents start opting for ESA funding, the government is “going to start requiring some type of evidence that you are implementing the principles that they think you should be implementing in order to get this money,” Bunn said.

According to Bunn, ESAs would provide another easy route for the government to influence what children learn by preapproving ESA providers.

States that have ESAs are beginning to announce various mandates, like in New Hampshire, where the state introduced a bill that would require non-public school teachers and volunteers to have a background check, which Bunn said infringes on parental rights, with other states experiencing similar issues she said. Although the New Hampshire bill failed to pass, these are the types of mandates homeschoolers want to be free from.

“Alabama is another state where the State Superintendent openly admitted that the goal of the ESA program was to gain control through testing homeschoolers and private school students. Since there was a lack of transparency and accountability in the flow of the ESA funds,” Bunn said.

Superintendent Eric Mackey told reporters that he was concerned about homeschoolers’ and private schools’ lack of accountability and that the ESA bill should include an accountability provision.

“If people are going to be able to use state dollars for homeschooling,” he said, “we have to completely rewrite our homeschool regulations. At this point, we don’t even have a list of who those homeschoolers are.”

“They should have to go through some minimum standards,” Mackey said.

The homeschool community in the United States has fought hard to be recognized as a legitimate form of education and have the government stay out of their business, so they can educate their children as the parents see fit, said Donnelly.

“The homeschool community engaged in some very significant legislative and court battles to realize his freedom,” Donnelly said. “They believe that, with a lot of money coming into the space, that that could create regulatory pressure and impose additional regulations.”

Donnelly said new ESA programs could confuse state education officials.

“I can tell you, having served the homeschool community across the country for 20 years, it doesn’t take a lot to confuse public school government officials,” Donnelly said.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) talks about school choice expansion in Arizona during an "Education Freedom Report Card" celebration sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, on Oct. 25, 2022. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Arizona’s Solution

The solution is more complicated than not taking the money from a state’s ESA program, said Donnelly.

According to Donnelly, the fear is that to mitigate the complexity of some homeschoolers taking ESA funds and some not, the state may end up imposing regulations on all homeschooling families.

“We, the private homeschoolers who aren’t taking the money, don’t want that kind of pressure building or additional regulations being imposed,” said Donnelly.

At the same time, Donnelly said: “Nobody at HSLDA wants to prevent parents from leaving the public school system and doing something different. We just want to protect the homeschooling community from regulatory capture.”

The solution that some states came up with and that HSLDA agreed to was to separate homeschooling completely from ESAs, so traditional homeschoolers could completely opt-out.

Arizona meets compulsory school laws by having three options, attend public schools, join the ESA program, or sign an affidavit stating they will homeschool and government leaves them alone, said Matt Beienburg, director of education policy at the Goldwater Institute in Arizona, during the May 25 homeschool panel discussion.

“The Arizona statute is very clear. It says the government, the state does not have the authority to alter the curriculum or creed or regulates for private or homeschool education,” said Beienburg.

In Arizona’s ESA program, the unused funds roll over to the following year, Beienburg added.

Virginia lawmakers have filed four 2023 school choice-related bills, which Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid (R) fielded questions about when meeting with parents at Langley High School in McLean, Va., on Jan. 10, 2023. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

Know the Law

Jamie Buckland, founder of West Virginia Families United for Education and a mom who has homeschooled all of her children, said she opted to use the ESA for her youngest child, which came with more regulation, but she was willing to meet the requirements in order to use the funds.

“There’s been a lot of misinformation from traditional homeschool groups who think that it comes with many more hoops, and it actually does, so I like to remind people that we can define what hoops we’re jumping through, and some of them may be feasible for many families,” said Buckland during the May 25 panel discussion.

Because homeschool and ESA laws vary from state to state, Buckland recommends that parents learn about what is required by the ESA funding in their own state and consult HSLDA for specific details in deciding if they want to take government school choice funding.

School choice initiatives are popping up all over the United States, with 21 states having introduced Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) and 12 states ( Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia) that already have some type of ESA programs.

In 2022, Virginia Republicans introduced four school choice or ESA bills, which all failed to pass the Democrat-led Senate.

Delegate Glenn Davis sponsored H.B. 1508, which would have established the “Virginia Education Success Account Program.” Under H.B. 1508, parents of children currently enrolled or starting in public schools could receive a portion of $5000 deposited into a savings account to use toward education expenses. Bunn said she explained to Davis in an hour-long meeting that HEAV does not want homeschoolers named in his bill.

“In fact, we want to assure if any homeschool does take the ESA money, that they are called something else [and] they do not file a notice of intent to homeschool,” said Bunn.

Currently, all homeschooling parents have to sign a notice of intent with the Virginia Department of Education.

The three other bills: H.B. 1371, S.B. 823, and H.B. 1396, would have each created an ESA.

“It’s a very complicated thing. Really. We consider this a great challenge to homeschooling. I don’t think we’ve ever seen the government want to come in and regulate in the way that this could be set up for them to do,” said Bunn.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated a school choice bill passed in Alabama. The Epoch Times regrets the error.