As more states introduce school choice bills and adopt government education savings accounts (ESAs) programs, Virginia’s largest homeschooling organization is weary of government ESA programs because they are sure it will lead to mandates and interference.
Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV) Director of Support & Government Affairs Yvonne Bunn told The Epoch Times that HEAV opposes Virginia’s ESA legislation in its current form.
The government is increasingly deciding what kids should learn, and the homeschool community does not want to be told what to teach or how to teach it, said Bunn, and while the left has captured public schools and teaching training programs in order to disseminate radical ideas, “they have no control over private schools and homeschools.”
ESAs might change all of that.
ESAs involve state governments putting funds into an electronic account, which is to be accessed by the parents for their child’s education needs. ESAs vary from state to state, but most of the funds cover private school tuition and fees, online learning programs, private tutoring, community college costs, higher education expenses, and other preapproved learning services and materials.
However, Bunn is concerned that ESAs could change all that. “Any time the government gives out money, there are strings attached to that,” Bunn said during a recent interview with The Epoch Times.
Mike Donnelly, a homeschool dad, former senior counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), and now vice president at the yes. every kid. foundation. agrees with Bunn on this point.
“What the government funds, the government controls,” Donnelly said during a May 25 virtual panel discussion hosted by the Cato Institute and attended by homeschooling policy experts and advocates. The 60-minute discussion covered a wide array of concerns homeschoolers have about ESAs.
Donnelly said most homeschoolers do not want the government to have that kind of control.
By Masooma Haq
