Parents who have removed their children from the Moloch schools
could be facing the beast once again if this bill backed by Ted Cruz passes.
Introduced by Mike Lee (R-UT) and co-sponsored by Cruz, S.306 would define
a “home school” as a “private school” in order to qualify homeschool families
to use 529 plans—investment accounts that remain tax-free as long as the funds
are used for qualified educational purposes.
At least two articles have taken hard swipes at this
measure, and I share some of their concerns, though I think they have misread
part of the bill also. They claim that the bill would allow homeschool families
to receive “Title 1” funding which is federal grants and aid for education for
the poor. I don’t think it does that, but what it does do is concerning enough
to me.
What’s so sinister about
a tax-free education account? Simple: it’s a federal program that comes with
federal government strings attached. Granted, the strings may not seem that
onerous right now, but the shadows of tyranny are already looming. Currently,
in order to use the funds tax-free, you must send your child to a school that
is accredited and also able to receive federal student
aid. If you use the funds
outside of such parameters, you not only have to pay the taxes but penalties on
top of them.
More importantly, what could these accreditation and federal-aid
regulations portend for homeschoolers? Maybe very little at first, and
maybe nothing, some supporters would even say. But remember that such regulations can be tweaked and
redefined by activist administrations, no matter what Congress allegedly did or
did not intend. Take the money, and you just signed a contract that could allow
the federal government to impose mandates on curriculum and more. Common Core
would be just the beginning. Under an executive-order-happy president like
Obama (and they all are), you could easily have common core,
evolution, and the gay agenda shoved down your throats, or else face steep
fines.
HSLDA supports this legislation, but quite
frankly I think they trust the federal government too much. A couple HSLDA
lawyers who are also open endorsers of Ted Cruz have come out and defended his
intentions with this bill, and defended the bill against some of the less
balanced concerns of critics. Well, they would say that.
But I do not think they have
really considered fully the potential evils of homeschoolers caught in the web
of a federal program administered by the federal Department of Education.
In short, I don’t like this idea, and I think it is irresponsible to
allow homeschoolers to be tempted with certain tax savings that could indeed be
a trap. Homeschoolers homeschool because they don’t want the government
involved in their family’s education. Tying them back into a government agency
is exactly the thing they don’t need, and shouldn’t want. Dangling the carrot
of federal benefits is just the sort of thing that has already largely
destroyed our decentralized system of government to begin with. The homeschool
movement is a great hope to get back our original American birthright. Let’s
not trade that birthright now for a bowl of pottage.
