Educational Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) are the hottest form of “school choice” nationwide. While they can go by different names, they operate with the same premise – government funding dispersed to parents to spend on educational expenses.
As homeschooling families are increasingly enticed by access to “free money,” there are important considerations to acknowledge.
Often, we hear:
- It’s my tax money coming back to me.
- The government finally recognizes my efforts as a homeschooler and wants to help me!
- This will help low-income families have the opportunity to homeschool. Finally!
- We’ll maintain _most_ of our freedom and educational choices. And, if the government does start to limit my choices, I can step away from the program at any time.
- If I do take the money, I’ll continue on with my child’s superior education, and we’ll continue to see excellent results.
- If I choose not to take the ESA, it won’t affect me.
How many of these arguments have you heard?
The reality of all ESAs is that they’re taxpayer-funded. The government is in control of the money and it, and the taxpayers, rightfully have a say in what happens with that money and the entities receiving it. If we do not acknowledge these truths, we cannot properly assess the consequences of accepting government funds.
Is it your tax money?
In fact, a small portion of it is. In Indiana, education is funded based on property taxes. Forty-two cents of every dollar heads to the education budget. [1] On average, the annual property tax paid in Indiana is $1,371. Of that, $575.82 is sent to the education budget. The state of Indiana has determined it costs $10,256 of property tax money to educate a student in one of its schools. [2] It is important to remember that that money does not go entirely to academics, field trips, and bulk classes such as choir and art. It covers textbooks, salaries (teachers, aids, administrators, cooks, bus drivers, mechanics, etc.), equipment such as buses, and building maintenance.
Is that $10,256 all yours?
No. It also comes from your neighbors, the local grocery store, the big box retailer down the street, etc. This is the very reason that each taxpayer has a vote in what happens with education. And, if a homeschooler takes that money, those same taxpayers have an investment and therefore a say in what happens in the homeschool.
Simply put, taxpayers have a say.
Like corporate investors, taxpayers have a say and require accountability of government funding. In exchange for accepting the funds, parents are exchanging educational freedom for government supervision. For example, in Indiana, anyone currently taking ESA funding must take state standardized exams and comply with any regulation that comes through a policy change. To utilize funds, families must use state-approved vendors. Like other states, Indiana’s ESA program is run through the state’s Treasury. That means Treasurer Departments across the country are now determining what qualifies as an educational expense and what does not.
Investors have a say.
We know what happens to state teachers when their classroom students don’t achieve an arbitrary level on standardized tests. Performance evaluations and ultimately pay raises can be impacted. [3] What will happen to ESA-enrolled families when students don’t achieve an arbitrary score?
As of 2023, only 30.6% of Indiana state-funded grades 3-8 students were proficient in Math and Reading. [4]
Won’t Government funding allow more families to homeschool?
It’s a common misconception that homeschooling is only affordable by the wealthy. Just as you’d expect with other educational options, there is a large diversity in homeschool household income. 17.4% of homeschooling families earned $74,999 or less, 5.3% of families earned $100,000 to $149,000, and 5.5% earned $150,000 or above. This means 71.8% earned between $75,000 and $99,999.
Clearly, homeschooling can be done on any income.
Public libraries are free, free online curricula exist, and trading and bartering are viable ways to make educational resources available. Conversely, should you want to spend a lot of money on various curricula, you certainly can do so.
For decades, curricula companies have maintained fair and competitive pricing in the homeschool space. History tells us that with the infusion of government funding into any private sector, prices rise. [5, 6, 7] Families taking educational funding will increase their spending on curricula and curricular materials, often purchasing items they would have never purchased with their own money. Arizona’s latest ESA expansion has proven to be an excellent example of this principle. [8] With nearly $1 billion spent on vouchers, lawmakers have already discovered over $700,000 in fraud, involving items such as European museum tickets, espresso machines, waterskiing lessons taken on vacation, and more. [9] Education companies increased prices simply because they suddenly had access to Government money.
Potentially, the used curriculum market for low income families will also fall to the wayside. People will not have incentive to resell, trade, or gift their used curriculum as they have. Instead, resources will be more readily disposed of because they were “free”, and therefore their value lost.
In 2023, a private Wisconsin school began telling Indiana homeschoolers that Indiana laws had changed – homeschoolers could “now receive government funding.” [10] In reality, the laws hadn’t changed. Homeschoolers do not receive government funding. As parents signed up for the program, they were also told they could sign their children up for two extracurriculars that the school would pay for. Parents could continue on with their chosen sports teams, ballet classes, music lessons, etc. with the same instructors just as they always had. The family would hand the instructor a W9, and the instructor unknowingly became a 1099 contractor of the private Wisconsin business. Parents were told by the school to inform the instructors that they should increase their pricing since funding was available, and that pricing must increase in price for all students. Popular à la carte ed tech companies increased course prices as well simply because the funding was available.
When money flows freely, the market is changed rapidly by both greed and fraud.
But we can still maintain our rights if we use ESA money, right?
Wrong. When an Indiana family accepts ESA funds they lose rights they’d previously had as homeschoolers. Their child now must take all state standardized testing required by the state and adhere to any policy changes as they come. Additionally, families can only purchase services through the approved vendor list. Their resource options may be incredibly limited based on the resources they’re looking for. Finally, once ESA funds are accepted, the local public school is no longer required to provide free services such as speech or occupational therapy for the child. The ESA contract completely removes any responsibility from the local public school and puts all of the financial responsibility on the parent. While they’ve received some ESA funding, it may not cover all services they had access to as a homeschooler. Any additional needed funds must come from the parents pushing the responsibility back on them.
As the program expands, it is reasonable that restrictions on curriculum, test score improvements, etc. will be detailed and required.
Surely, ESAs won’t affect those homeschoolers not taking the money, will they?!
As families enrolled in other government-funded programs over the years have discovered, funding quickly fuels attempts to increase regulations.
In Alberta, Canada, government funding for homeschoolers was offered the first year with the add-on that if you didn’t take the money, you wouldn’t be held to the standards as those taking the money. The very next year, that exemption ended, and all homeschoolers were required to either take the money, or their homeschool diplomas would no longer be valid. West Virginia saw their ESA law pass in 2021. Again, they were told homeschoolers not using the funding wouldn’t be impacted. In the 2023 legislative session, guess which group of families the legislature attempted to sweep up into those ESA requirements? If you guessed the homeschoolers, you guessed correctly. New Hampshire added their version of ESA, the Educational Freedom Account, in Fall of 2021. On January 3, 2024 New Hampshire introduced House Bill 1610-FN titled “relative to standardized assessment data for participants in education freedom accounts.” [11] Listed in the Methodology, “This bill would require all public, non-public, and all learning environments including home education and education freedom account students to participate in the state assessment system.” That’s right. Those homeschooling, not under contract with the government through the EFA program, are being swept up in requirements for those EFA students. Furthermore, case law, Grove City v. Bell (PA), demonstrates that all students will be held to the same standard regardless of them taking government money or not. [12]
Free money isn’t free. It comes at a cost.
The same funds that promise freedom and choice in education will not only bring increased regulation upon homeschoolers truly walking in education freedom but will also increase the financial demands on those already sacrificing.
[1] Citizen’s Guide to Property Tax. Department of Local Government Finance. in.gov/dlgf/understanding-your-tax-bill/citizens-guide-to-property-tax/. Accessed 3 January 2024.
[2] Per Pupil Spending by State 2023. World Population Review. worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/per-pupil-spending-by-state. Accessed 15 December 2023.
[3] Washington, Aaricka. “Indiana lawmakers promised teachers wouldn’t be judged by test scores. But they still are.” Chalkbeat Indiana. 17 September 2020. chalkbeat.org/indiana/2020/9/17/21444176/indiana-lawmakers-promised-teachers-wouldnt-be-judged-by-test-scores-but-they-still-are/. Accessed 20 December 2023.
[4] Indiana Department of Education Indiana Data Center and Reports. Indiana Department of Education Doe. in.gov/doe/it/data-center-and-reports/?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=. Accessed 15 December 2023.
[5] Solochek, Jeffrey S. “A Florida school raised tuition because of vouchers. Will more follow?” Tampa Bay Times. 31 May 2023. tampabay.com/news/education/2023/05/31/florida-school-raised-tuition-because-vouchers-will-more-follow/. Accessed 15 December 2023.
[6] Whitlatch, Kaelei. “Local private schools announce tuition hikes nearly a year after Iowa’s school choice law.” CBS2Iowa. 20 December 2023. cbs2iowa.com/news/local/local-private-school-tuition-to-increase-government-funding-available-to-eligible-families. Accessed 2 January 2024.
[7] Morton, Neil. “Arizona gave families public money for private schools. Then private schools raised tuition.” The Hechinger Report. 27 November 2023. hechingerreport.org/arizona-gave-families-public-money-for-private-schools-then-private-schools-raised-tuition/#:~:text=A%20Hechinger%20Report%20analysis%20of,year%20of%20around%206%20percent. Accessed 15 December 2023.
[8] Lewis, Beth and Melinda Iyer. “Universal ESA vouchers: Arizona’s $1 billion failed experiment” Arizona Mirror. 16 August 2023. azmirror.com/2023/08/16/universal-esa-vouchers-arizonas-1-billion-failed-experiment/. Accessed 15 December 2023.
[9] Prothero, Arianna. “Cosmetics and Clothes: Parents Misspent $700,000 in Arizona’s School Choice Program.” EducationWeek. 19 November 2018. edweek.org/leadership/cosmetics-and-clothes-parents-misspent-700-000-in-arizonas-school-choice-program/2018/11. Accessed 18 December 2023.
[10] Indiana – AoE.school. Academy of Excellence. aoe.school/indiana. Accessed 15 December 2023.
[11] The General Court of New Hampshire, House, Education. Relative to standardized assessment data for participants in education freedom accounts. https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/billinfo.aspx?id=1492&inflect=1. 3 January 2024, Accessed 4 March 2024.
[12] Grove City College v. Bell – Facts and Case Summary. uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/grove-city-college-v-bell-facts-and-case-summary