Public Schools Hate Homeschooling

Have you ever wondered why so many public school authorities hate parents who homeschool their children. Well, it is because homeschooling is very successful.

Homeschooling families pose a direct challenge to the monopoly that the public school has. This monopoly is what makes it nearly impossible to fire a tenured public school teacher or principal. This means that these tenured employees are almost guaranteed that they will have a job for life. They only get this incredible benefit because public schools are monopolizing our children’s education. If these teachers were to work for a private school they would not have this tenure and thus they would have to compete for their job. This is why public schools see homeschooling parents as a serious threat.

A lot of school officials also cannot stand the thought of an average parent who never attended college, much less attended college to become a teacher, being able to better educate their child than the public school experts could. These parents are able to give their children an education that is far superior to that which they would have received in the public schools. This humiliates the public school teachers, who are licensed to teach children, as it shows that these public school teachers have failed in comparison. This is humiliating for the public schools to admit.

Another reason for which a lot of public school officials resent homeschoolers is because the public school looses approximately $7,500 per year in tax money for each student that leaves the public school system. These public schools are highly dependant upon this tax money because it pays the employees’ salaries, benefits and pensions.

These are just some of the many reasons why until just recently a lot of state legislatures either outlawed homeschooling or placed so many regulations on it in order to try to put a stop to it. In fact, as recently as 1980 only Utah, Ohio and Nevada gave recognition to a parent’s right to homeschool their children. These states had freedom to homeschool while other state legislatures continued to harass and prosecute homeschooling parents according to truancy laws and educational neglect charges.

All of this changed in 2004 thanks to the pressure that parents, Christian homeschooling organizations and court rulings placed upon public schools. Now all 50 states have to allow homeschooling as long as the state’s requirements are meant. Of course, these requirements vary depending upon which state you live in.

Even after the 2004 ruling, a lot of states still continue to harass those parents who choose to homeschool. This is because the Supreme Court gave the local government the right to regulate homeschooling. Thus, there is plenty of room left for homeschooling parents to be harassed.

If you are a homeschooling parent then you need to know how to protect your rights. There are two well-known groups that exist in order to help you do this. They are the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) and The Rutherford Instituted. Both of these groups were founded in order to give its members legal representation against any public school official that is harassing them, demanding to supervise their homeschooling or demanding to periodically test the homeschooled child.