Why Homeschoolers Didn't Want an Extra $100

It probably surprised a lot of people when homeschoolers said they didn't want the $100 tax credit that State Senator Tom Reynolds put in the budget at the 11th hour back in July. (Just a clarification: Doyle vetoed it; see the link for details.)

Why? Because all the cliches apply:

there's no such thing as a free lunch;

there are always strings attached;

the scariest phrase in the English language, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, is "I'm from the government and I'm here to help".

The fact is, Wisconsin is a good state in which to homeschool and we really don't want to mess with that. In one study, Wisconsin ranked third in the nation in terms of educational freedom.

Our state homeschool laws work well; we don't need to change anything about them. As soon as you do -- even to provide a tax benefit of any kind -- you make homeschoolers a target for new legislation.

The immediate impulse would be, "You're getting some tax money back? Then we need to make sure you use it well!" or some something similar.

Yes, we homeschoolers pay double -- or triple -- since we pay our taxes for public schools, we pay for our own books, curriculum, and all other educational materials, and in some cases we also help support parish schools.

But that's OK.

To our state government: Please, just leave us alone. Let us educate our children without your interference, your bureaucracy, your mandated tests which require that we "teach to the test" at the expense of real education.

We're doing just fine without all that.

In fact, if you want to do better at educating children in the public schools, come talk to me. I can give you some pointers on curriculum that just might be helpful.

(Welcome, Carnival of the Badger readers!)