

“I find it highly ironic and in fact a bit hypocritical that so many homeschoolers — those of us who are quick to self-identify as conservative Christians, and profess a strong affinity toward a strict constructionist view of the Constitution — would be jumping on the bandwagon to push something that effectively amounts to . . . an entitlement!”
My family pays $200 per month in school taxes for a school we don’t use. I don’t like it. I’d rather put $200 per month into my homeschool. But taxes are a necessary evil. For the county taxes I pay, I’d love to submit a request to have my gravel county road paved nice and smooth. But that’s not how it works. The senior citizens down the street pay school taxes; what do they get out of it? Nothing. Because it’s not an order form for goods and services. It’s how government operates, whether we like it or not.
It works in other states without negative effects, doesn’t it?
The effects of some laws take years to see, but we are starting to see. Take New Mexico, for instance: including homeschools in UIL-type activities has all but eliminated homeshool teams. Read about the Science Olympiad here and the Debate Teams here. You can read an outline of how all states handle this type of law here. Notice that most have some kind of testing, enrollment or reporting requirements. Some have very strict rules, blurring the lines between private (home) schools and public schools. This is dangerous. Is it worth blurring these lines for competitive sports or other activities?
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