I have been doing a lot of research and going down "school choice" rabbit holes lately. The more I find the more convinced I am that anything with government strings (money) attached is a bad idea. An April article from Harbinger’s Daily details a new concern on the education front.
Johns Hopkins - the pioneer for "transgender" child mutilation procedures - has created a "Homeschool Hub" 👀
“As homeschooling grows, the Homeschool Hub will serve as the leader in promoting rigorous homeschool research and responding to the need for more transparency from this growing sector,” the site added.
When the establishment speaks of “transparency,” that is generally a dog whistle for increasing surveillance, control, data-gathering, and intrusions on privacy.
I pulled the graph from the Homeschool Hub for Washington state as I had my own children in schools there up until 2023 and was curious what the data looked like during and post-Covid. As you can see, homeschooling numbers doubled during Covid and have dipped, but still remain higher than pre-Covid levels.
As many families are choosing to homeschool or find options outside of government schools, the school choice movement is growing larger. This sounds like a good thing in theory…”the money follows the backpack.” But the money isn’t the only thing that follows the backpack.
So does…government regulation, oversight & surveillance, data collection (for your child’s “digital backpack”)…and this is not a good thing.
As a “policy nerd”, I have been especially interested in school choice legislation around the country this year and have paid close attention to who is supporting and who is opposing these efforts. I have learned that the homeschooling community of parents and advocates are excellent watchdogs of government overreach and protecting a parent’s right to educate their children as they see fit - and without government interference.
As with most things in politics and policy-making: follow the money.
Thanks for the link to the Homeschool Hub article by Alex Newman. Everyone should read it. I've viewed "follow the backpack" money as a stepping stone for people to leave public schools. However, as you've pointed out, government money always comes with strings. It's a form of education welfare that creates dependency.
Many long-time homeschoolers (I started in 2004 and graduated in 2022) realize the danger, and they desire to protect their independence as cited by Newman. One organization he didn't cite that would be of interest is Public School Exit https://www.publicschoolexit.com/, which advocates for all to leave public schools and government money.
What does Rep. Jim Walsh think of this stance? He's pro-school choice "follow the backpack".
#schoolchoice IS a government program and it is NOT education liberty
- it grows government
- it removes our representative form of government
- its goal is to put all education under the same government control system
why would conservatives support such a program?! Did you know UNESCO is behind the push?
"The plan is now for your education money to follow children/students into adulthood. Why? Because the United Nations’ plan is for all of the world’s children (and adults) to be “trained” for the global economy and “conditioned” in new global values."
https://www.sunjournal.com/2012/05/06/charlotte-iserbyt-education-restructuring-global-economy/