accountability – IAHE Action

As We Were Saying

Recently, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Jennifer McCormick, was on a panel at the annual meeting of the Coalition for Public Education with former Superintendents, Glenda Ritz and Suellen Reed.

Dr. McCormick called for increased accountability measures for charter and private schools that accept taxpayer funded vouchers. Her hope is that all schools that receive taxpayer funding will have the same “academic and financial scrutiny as traditional public schools.” She wants to make certain students receive a quality experience for their education.

Currently, according to the EdChoice publication, The ABCs of School Choice, these are requirements for Indiana taxpayer-funded voucher schools:

IC 20-51-1-4

Be accredited by either the state board or a national or regional accreditation agency that is recognized by the state board.
Comply with health and safety codes
Must not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin*
Conduct criminal background checks on employees
Administer the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) program and report to the state data for A-F ratings including ISTEP scores and graduation rates

To remain eligible to accept new scholarship students, a school must not be rated as D or F for two or more consecutive years

Must grant the state full access to its premises for observing classroom instruction and reviewing any classroom instructional materials and curriculum
Provide civic and character education and display related historical documents [3]

*There has been a discussion regarding discrimination by Congresswoman Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts about an Indiana Christian voucher accepting school and a recent effort in Nevada to broaden this to include gender.

If Dr. McCormick has her way, there would be even greater regulations and private schools will look increasingly like public schools. Homeschoolers need to take this to heart whenever a legislator assures our community that ESAs will cause no harm to our liberty. Once the camel’s nose is under the tent, it is very difficult to keep him out.

In a similar vein, Heartland Institute’s Teresa Mull shared the money quote in her article, “Ending Government Schools Does Not Mean Ending Public Education.” “Delivering families access to alternative forms of education—whether it be in the form of online classes, learning therapies, homeschool textbooks, tutoring, or private schools—is the purpose of tax-credit scholarships, education savings accounts, and vouchers, all of which are forms of “public education,” since public tax dollars fund the programs.”

As we’ve shared with homeschoolers, a new public school system is being built. We first noticed it as we read quotes from early reformers from the 1990’s. The question for homeschoolers who worked so hard to have the liberty to teach their children as they see fit, do you want to be sucked back into the public school system? We’ve seen what has happened to it over the past 50 years. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. ~ John Adams

Concerns about HB 1591 Education Options Account (EOA)

“Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.” ~ Milton Friedman

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A legislator wants the State of Indiana to “help” people homeschool. It sounds so nice on the surface. What possibly could be the problem with that? A lot. Here’s our concerns:

1.) Currently, homeschooling is completely separate from institutional education programs. Parents are solely responsible for expenses. Education Option Accounts (EOA), also known as Education Scholarship Accounts (ESA), blurs those lines by sending taxpayer dollars into homes. This ultimately turns homeschools into public schools and subject to regulation. Homeschools in Indiana are considered “private schools”, but the introduction of government money endangers educational liberty. Government money always comes with strings.

“Any private schools that do participate will thereby become public schools, as such schools are defined under the new system.” John E. Chubb, Terry M. Moe. Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools. Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institute, 1990: p. 219.

”By rhetorical sleight-of-hand, this redefinition would address long-standing concerns about the propriety of providing government support to public schools simply by declaring private schools to be public.” Jeffrey R. Henig, Rethinking School Choice: Limits of the Market Metaphor. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995: p. 94.

Based on the above quotes by school choice advocates, homeschoolers, as defined by Indiana law, would then become public schools which is a violation of our federal Constitutional right to provide an education independent of government intrusion. ESAs/EOAs appear to play a part in transforming the public school system. Homeschoolers are alarmed that they could unwittingly be drawn into it.

2.) There have been over 50 cases of discrimination against homeschoolers in Indiana. Cases have included denial of entrance in trade schools to qualified candidates job offers being rescinded. The more education becomes entwined with corporate interests, the more likely it becomes homeschool candidates, who do not have diplomas issued by state agents, will see an increase in discrimination. There is a well-documented case of an Indiana corporation denying employment to an Ohio home educated student. The division of homeschoolers in Indiana will increase the possibility that the group under State “oversight” could be viewed more favorably. We are concerned about the soft consequences of non-participation despite producing highly educated graduates.

3.) A legislator said this bill will help those who are “incapable” of homeschooling. Ask any homeschooler if someone who is “incapable” should be encouraged to homeschool. I can tell you their answer. NO! It’s a recipe for disaster.

Indiana Association of Home Educators and IAHE Action have dealt with the Indiana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the topic of the School to Prison Pipeline for ten months in 2016. We saw first hand what happens when the public schools encourage someone to “homeschool” who is “incapable.” We truly believe any parent can homeschool if the motivation comes from within. It should never, ever be motivated from an outside source. Former public school families homeschool now…without government “help.” We’ve been doing it for 35 years.

As Milton Friedman said, “The least amount of care is given when spending other people’s money on other people.” A number of homeschoolers have expressed concern that they know of other people who would absolutely sign up for this program in order to receive a perceived benefit and not use it to teach their children. The public school truancy problem where parents claimed to homeschool, but their students were actually truant gave legit homeschoolers a black eye. We are concerned this bill will give us a second black eye.

4.) We are concerned the schools will use an EOA to play a “shell” game with their problem students in order to protect their A-F grade. The accountability measures for the public schools have negatively affected homeschooling over the years. Homeschooling seems to be an area in which they hide their problem students to get them off their records. Ask people in the homeschool community if they know these people and they will say, “no.” According to testimony in the School to Prison Pipeline, principals from the schools appear to know these dropouts and that they are not being educated. If they know them, why they are not dealt with according to the current law? In fact, a testifier from the hearing told the IAHE Director of Government Affairs that “If we can make them register, teach them how to homeschool, monitor their homeschool, buy their curriculum and test them, homeschooling will work for the dropouts!” YIKES! We are concerned this bill will enable that practice. The good reputation of homeschoolers will be once again sullied from those outside our community. Home education has always been about the parent-child relationship. If a parent is disinterested, lacks time, or motivation, the amount of money that is spent on homeschooling will not change that attitude or situation. A recent IAHE survey of Indiana homeschoolers showed the average Indiana homeschool family spends less than $500/year on their children’s education. That amount of money will not allow a working parent to stay home to homeschool.

5.) We are concerned this is the camel’s nose under the tent in home education. Homeschoolers must be independent and self-motivated to homeschool. Creating a new entitlement class is not conducive to the character necessary to successfully home educate. Homeschoolers must be innovative, independent parents, not ones who wait for assistance from others.

6.) EOAs will require a parent to be an “approved” service provider in a yet to be determined procedure with unknown criteria that will be developed by the Indiana State Board of Education to receive approval by the Treasurer.

One must be “approved” (if they want to enroll in an Education Options Account) unlike now as a parent operating a non-accredited nonpublic school (which would still remain an option.) Also, they’d have to agree to 1) provide, at a minimum, an education in certain subjects; 2) use the funds only for qualified expenses; 3) comply with the rules and requirements of the program (subject to change each legislative session.)

7.) EOAs will require a de facto registration of a homeschooler. Data is king in Indiana. We strive to protect our children including their data from government overreach. It is private, intimate information of our children. We aim to protect it until they can decide on their own as an adult with whom they decide to share it. Our children are more than cogs in the government machine. They are our treasured gifts from God, and we are accountable to Him for their education and upbringing.

8.) Funds may only be used for qualified expenses. The State will decide what is “qualified” and we believe this will open the door to Common Core for homeschoolers as the State requires it for its public schools. Of course, we now have Indiana Standards, which contains 85-90% of Common Core standards. As Shakespeare once said, “A rose is but a rose if called by any other name.” Same goes for stinkweed.

We are also concerned about curriculum price inflation. Anyone remember the government-funded $640 toilet seats?

9.) Currently, the Indiana EOA proposal is ripe for fraud. What prevents a parent approved for an account to purchase qualified expenses, sell them to another non-EOA homeschooler, pocket the money, and the State would be none the wiser? Of course, that brings us to our next concern…

10.) A new entitlement will necessitate increased taxes. Homeschoolers do not need the State to take our tax money and turn around and give it back with strings. If you want to help, increase our deduction to $2,500. With a tax deduction, we can keep our own money and the State never touches it. Increased taxes will make it more difficult to homeschool without government “help.” After all, the Indiana legislature is campaigning for an increase in the gas tax to cover fixing roads, an obvious role of the government. If tax increases are already needed for the government to perform basic services, why are they dangling $400 million dollars in our faces for an area it doesn’t serve and we don’t want? Is it really to “help” or to control us?

11.) EOAs are vouchers. Despite the best of intentions including protective language in Indiana Code, the increased regulation of Indiana voucher-accepting schools did not escape our notice. Families tell us they feel it was a “bait and switch”. Fool us once shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us.

12.) An EOA family must agree not to enroll the student in a school corporation, charter school, or the choice scholarship program. If that family is pushed into homeschooling and they are unsuccessful, they are not able to enroll in a public school and parents are left holding the bag. Homeschooling will get the blame for failure.

An African saying that relates to missionary help states, “We’ve been fixed so many times we’re a real mess now. Lord, please do not send another one to help us.” We see this as the problem with our schools. Instead of meddling with the schools, let the locals deal with them. They can fix their schools. It’s the one thing that has not been tried. We do not want the State to start meddling with “home schools” because we guarantee this idea of “helping” “incapable” people homeschool will lead to requiring “fixes” and make a mess out of home education. Homeschooling works and we’ve proven it; please don’t mess it up!

13.) What will happen to the public school push-out students when the EOA funds are not sufficient to meet the needs of the child’s educational challenges? By taking the EOA money, the parent has agreed to not utilize ANY further state money or services. When the money runs out the parent either has to begin paying out of pocket or the child simply goes without any remediation for the rest of the year. Based on IAHE’s past experience with push-out families who call them for help, we know the public school will not help these families assess the cost/benefit ratio between staying enrolled and taking EOA money. Who is helped here besides the public school’s graduation rate and A-F rating? Hint: Not the child.

14.) Home educators are allowed to be innovators in education and we are concerned about the potential for increased regulation. Curriculum can be adapted for the student rather than the student adapting to the school’s curriculum. Children can learn at their pace without the stress of constant assessment. The joy of learning is allowed to take hold. Inserting government “oversight” or “accountability” into homeschools introduces the very problems that plague our public schools into our homes. What benefit has child assessment given students in schools now other than frustrating struggling learners and creating incentives for principals to push poor performers out of the public school?

Home educators test their students. They independently contract with testing services utilizing the standardized test of their choice. The difference being the parent is in full control of testing frequency, the child’s results and who sees those results. The modern move towards data-collection is a grave concern for many homeschool families. Pulling homeschoolers into the public/private school universe deprives parents the right to control their children’s data and sends the clear signal the government does not trust parents. For those parents who wish to have greater support at home, Indiana already offers a Virtual Public School (VPS) option. VPS still requires an engaged parent to keep the student on task even if grading and testing is being done by the educational vendor.

After having risked jail time and potential loss of children for the right to homeschool, homeschoolers are very protective of our hard won liberty. The very thought of publicly-funded homeschooling appears to be an oxymoron. One cannot retain liberty while under government regulation. EOAs are a foreign concept that we believe will fundamentally harm homeschooling in Indiana.

One choice with many names is no choice.

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Testing, Assessments, Standards, Teaching Machines…The Science of Creating Obedient Citizens. Behavioral Science. Part 1

In this multi-part series, Dr. Dawn Kazmierzak reminds us of how and why Behavioral Science is applied in the education of the public. This series of posts also explains why Dawn and her husband have chosen privately-funded, parent-directed education for their daughter.

“Education is what survives when what has been learned has long been forgotten.” ~ B.F. Skinner, father of Operant Conditioning.

1. Behavior modifies the Neural System.

The human brain is neuroplastic. It changes all the time. The mere act of seeing something, reading something, doing something, thinking about something or being emotionally engaged in something changes the brain itself. “The behavior modifies the neural system no less than the neural system directs the behavior.” *

Behavioral Science is the branch of psychology that specializes in studying behaviors and means of influencing, modifying, and controlling those behaviors. Behavioral Science is known to ply its trade on and through living things such as: animals, humans, communities, markets, cultures, herds, etc. as well as computers and artificial intelligence.

Behavioral Sciences utilizes tests, assessments, embedded formative assessments, computers, artificial intelligence, peer relations, group dynamics, ethical training, digital media, digital learning, public relations media, polls, social media, advertising etc. to ply its trade on its subjects. Behaviors are largely modified without subject consent.

Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) is noted for his Classical Conditioning of dogs, often called Pavlovian Conditioning. Pavlov trained, (conditioned), dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell by associating the ringing of a bell each time the dogs were presented with food. The dogs associated the stimulus, the ringing bell, with the food so well, that eventually, they would salivate with only the ringing of the bell and no food presented. Their habit became reflexive, formed and embedded. The association of two stimuli to elicit a behavior is called “classical conditioning.” Classical conditioning is a form of learning. Cell phones are conditioning users ad nauseum these days. The general public resembles Alessandro Volta’s electrified frogs with each buzz, beep, jingle, flash or vibration of the conditioning cell phone.

American psychologist, Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner (1904-1990) took Pavlov’s work further. Skinner is known as the father of Operant Conditioning, the branch of Behaviorism that seeks to reinforce the desired behavior, action, or ideology, via the use of positive or negative consequences. Skinner designed tests, assessments, teaching machines, operant conditioning chambers, etc. using rewards for desired responses and punishment, “aversive stimulus,” for undesirable responses. (Or resistance to the desired behavior criteria: the logic or standards of the training experiment – the test.)

Skinner advanced the use of testing, assessment, “teaching machines” that would train human beings to the desired behaviors of his utopian society, which he wrote about in his novel entitled “Walden Two.” The methods espoused in Skinner’s novel are now known and employed as applied behavior **analysis (ABA). **Note the misleading word “analysis” which is, in fact, shaping the neural system, behaviors, attitudes, values and framework upon which future stimuli will be integrated and acted upon. Any test, assessment, media that stimulates any of the receptive sensory systems (auditory, visual, proprioceptive, olfactory, tactile, chemical, thermal, pain, vestibular) or engages cognition, thought, of the participant changes the subject himself.

2. Rewards, Testing, Stickers, Grades, Degrees and Positive Reinforcement, Operant conditioning in the Brain – Yours, your child’s, your culture’s.

Learning happens every moment whether we are cognizant of it or not. We can experience active learning in which we are intentional about building brain pathways, encoding new information with previous experiences and organizing this input for future reference, rumination, pruning or reflexive reactions. Learning also happens passively, even when we are not focused, engaged and perceiving accurately nor being organized wisely.

Learning happens whether the information is true, accurate, beneficial, novel, interesting or in agreement with our personal convictions and faith. This is why education was to be administered by parents. Genesis 18:19 provides explicit details and intentions in establishing parents with the transmission of knowledge, beliefs and values to their children.

“For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what He has promised.” ~ Genesis 18:19

This decree contains the four essentials for successful transmission of culture. The Source is God; the content is that which is right and just; the transmitter is the parent and the target is the child, and heirs.

Behavioral science has long yoked with political science to remove the parents from the education and transmission of culture to their heirs and to instead create a dependency on the government as being the “paternal state.”

When the education of the child became a taxpayer funded, government administrated entity, compulsory, and universal,- it removed the parents as being the transmitters of knowledge, values, and beliefs. It also sought to remove the responsibility of the parents to answer to God for successful transmission of what is right and just. The responsibility remains.

In the statist model, the parents were replaced with a Third-party payer system that had millions of payers, taxpayers, who demanded accountability for their assumed interests and returns on their third party payer investments.

Thus, enters the Operant Conditioning system of tests, assessments, teaching machines, social-emotional rewards and punishment based not upon the parents’ assigned content, but upon those of the administration, governors, planners, peer review, group consensus, investors, vendors, employees, and future employers of the infrastructure upon which the paternal government builds its power; and shapes public opinion.

So, in order to convince:

Parents- that junior is learning;

Taxpayers- that teachers are laboring;

Administrators- that teachers are intimidated and teaching to the test;

Employers- that workers (human capital) will be produced and productive;

Government- that taxes will be harvested;

Colleges and Universities- that academia will still produce proselytes;

and Politicians – that folks will be easily led …the Operant Conditioning reward system is employed on all levels. (How many reward cards do you have? How many regulated tax-deferred ‘savings’ accounts…ESA, FSA, HSA, 401 K, 529, IRA, SIMPLE, Roth etc. ….or non-profit tax deductible affiliations? How many degrees? Certifications? Guild memberships? Accreditations?)

3. Tests used to Sort, Lane, verify conformity of proselytes, to assign stickers of state to wards of state.

Each time the politically “correct” answer is regurgitated in the class, on the quiz, on the test, on the “assessment,” on the computer…. the student gets a “good boy!” This desired response is positively reinforced via a hit of dopamine in the reward center of the brain, the nucleus accumbens. Consistently regurgitating the “correct” response results in more approbation: “You memorize well, Johnny….You are so smart! ….. We need to advance you to the Alpha class. …..You will go to college and manage other people. You may even run testing machines like I do.” Or “Johnny, you may be a scientist…or even a planner! Planners are above us managers. Keep giving the “right” answer, the one the planners want or you may just be a ‘worker.’”

Tests are used for embedding ideas, conformity, shaping predictable behaviors and for student sorting. Laning and sifting out which students perform well, meaning conform well and take orders well. These will be good for administrators in civil servant, bureaucracy positions. The use of digital media, computers with artificial intelligence with self-adapting algorithms makes Skinner’s dreams of “teaching machines” to upload Utopian mindsets a very present reality. The logic uploaded is not that of the Source, God, nor that of the parent, but rather the logic of the software. The software programmer embeds the logic of the governing authorities over him; whoever pays his wage dictates what is deemed as “correct,” politically correct.

Most of Socialist Europe employs classical education methods whose content is reinforced via high-pressure testing, sorting and laning for assigned positions within the socialist frameworks often called “republics.”

See the educational methods and mindset of Germany, Hungary, Austria, United Kingdom, Romania, Italy, Russia, Ukraine and China. Access, Placement, Advancement, lifework and societal rank are determined by test performance and evaluations at specific ages. These systems remove the need for the individual to think and self-direct. They are conditioned to only “do” as told, to fulfill their assigned role in the state. Germans know this as “Gleichschaltung,” the integration of man into the State. [ 7]

In the early to mid 20th century, parents from Europe and Asia sent their children to America for education. But, as American education duplicates the socialist mindset of these socialist nations, her education system is no longer one of excellence nor is it fit for those seeking to prepare their heirs for constitutional self-governance.

See articles from academics on the failure of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Programme of International Student Assessment known as PISA exams, which entails over 60 countries and by Bruce G. Hammond on Chinese test takers– China and Testing Great Test Scores, Bad Schools: A Cautionary Tale From China .

If the student regurgitates the desired responses flawlessly they will get many “A’s,” the teacher will get good evaluations, the school will get its funding for successful operant conditioning, the student will get scholarships, Advanced Placement (AP) credits, approval from parents and family. The student will be called a ‘scholar’ and advance to the next round of testing and assessments conditioning him to do whatever it takes to pass the test, get the grade, get the neurochemical fix and sense of self-worth that is reinforced in these operations. Students learn to “give the system, the test, the teacher, what they want,” advance past “GO” collect the rewards and keep collecting the stickers, the currency, the prestige and the position – the ‘reward’.

[7] Milton Mayer in They Thought They Were Free, The Germans 1933-1945 https://dawnkazmierzak.net/2016/07/13/they-thought-they-were-free-the-germans-1933-1945/comment-page-1/#comment-97

To be continued.

Dr. Dawn Kazmierzak has over twenty years in private practice Optometry. Academic stickers include majors in biology, neurobiology, neuroscience, visual science, doctorate of Optometry; post-graduate work for SUNY and West Point (USMC) in developmental and hospital-based Optometry; cognitive science Feuerstein trained in Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) and FIE (Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment). Having been transmitted a love of learning and commitment to discerning the truth from her parents, she and her husband labor to model this transmission to their daughter.

It was (and is), the anchors of faith in Christ and Biblical study that shielded Dawn from the operant conditioning that accompanies academic “successes.” These studies and stickers (degrees, certifications) were chosen in preparation for participation in third-world medical missions. If individuals lack the abilities to see, it is very difficult to teach themselves, grow in their faith, or provide for their families. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18 This applies to physical, cognitive(mental) and spiritual ‘sight.’

You, as a homeschool parent, do not need all these stickers to transmit truth to and equip your child for their future; but, in her opinion, one does need a relationship with The Author, who defines what is true, right and just. Genesis 18:19. This relationship will provide all you need.

Blessings on your transmissions of your culture!

Maintaining the Integrity of Home Education

Indiana Association of Home Educators (IAHE) and IAHE Action protect Hoosier parents’ autonomy to direct the education and upbringing of their children. We know one of the biggest threats to our liberty is entanglement with government funding. When we hear of the government trying to “help” homeschoolers, we are very cautious as not to jeopardize our liberty. We remember the wise words of our second president, John Adams, “Liberty once lost is lost forever.”

Common Schools

Although Common Schools are mentioned in the Indiana Constitution, we wonder if the State remembers the history of Common Schools? According to E.G. West author of, Education and the State, the Common Schools were only for those families who did not desire to take responsibility to educate their children privately.

Before these government schools began in America, most families were privately educating their children in brick and mortar schools or at home. The Common Schools were first formed in the rural areas for those who did not have access to private brick and mortar schools. Common Schools were not universal, compulsory, or free. Parents had to pay to send their child to a Common School.

Those who benefitted economically from the Common Schools were the ones who advocated that schools become universal, compulsory, and free. Of course, human nature being what it is, people soon flocked to the “free/taxpayer funded” schools and the private options eventually withered. Today, most do not even realize that at one point in our nation’s history most everyone was privately educated, and public schools were basically non-existent. The United States had a very high literacy rate prior to the advent of Common Schools.

We have come full circle. Today, some advocate for the government to have control or “accountability” for all forms of private education through “school choice.” The state of Indiana has accountability requirements for private voucher-accepting schools that require the students to take ISTEP and to collect intrusive student data. Vouchers were originally “sold” to the public as having little to no regulation. Now some private school families whose school accepts voucher students feel like it was a “bait and switch.” Their private school feels compelled to follow the state standards that resemble Common Core in order to do well on the state test to protect their school rating.

This is a valuable lesson for us to remember. Home educators must fight hard to maintain our liberty for our families and our posterity.

Universal ESAs and Liberty

Should universal ESAs concern homeschoolers? Yes, according to attorney Jane Robbins of the American Principles Project. In her July 19, 2016, article, “New GOP Platform: The Good, the Bad, and the Very Concerning” she writes, “Now for the troubling parts. The platform focuses a great deal on choice in education and endorses the concept of “portability” of education funding to be used for many different types of schooling (private or parochial schools, homeschooling, etc.) and with many different funding mechanisms (tax credits, vouchers, etc.). While efforts to shatter the government monopoly on education are laudable, extreme caution must be exercised to ensure—if this is even possible—that when government money follows the child, government regulations don’t follow as well. For example, a state that grants vouchers (such as Indiana) may require the private schools that accept voucher students to give the state Common Core-aligned test, which means the private schools will pretty much have to teach Common Core.

“Choice” that results in all schools’, whether public or private, having to teach the same thing is no choice at all. The platform would have done well to acknowledge this danger.”

Ms. Robbins reminds us that “school choice” has the potential to trample on individual liberty. Universal government programs do not take into account the liberties of the individual even when they assure us that they will.

Nevada Homeschool Network learned this first-hand with Nevada’s ESA bill. There was an attempt to use their homeschool statute as the vehicle for the ESA bill. They were told they didn’t have to accept the ESA money if they didn’t want it. They fought too hard to gain their homeschool freedom after many years of bad homeschool regulations to take a chance on it. As we have recently seen in Indiana, confusion between virtual charter school students and home educated students has resulted in a threat of increased regulations for the homeschoolers. ESAs would cause increased confusion.

Homeschoolers always need to be concerned about guarding liberty and parental rights when dealing with elected officials and bureaucrats who think they are responsible for the education of all children and for determining how that education should present itself. IAHE has spent 33+ years protecting our rights. Whenever a government “freebie” is accepted, there is ALWAYS a risk to liberty.

Indiana is a Leader in Home Education Freedom

We have excellent laws in Indiana that protect a parent’s right to educate their children. The Indiana Constitution provides for schools that are open to all, but it does not say that all must be educated in a Common School under government control.

Homeschoolers do not accept state funding and do not have to register with the State; although, we may report enrollment. We have the freedom to direct our children’s education and are not forced to submit test results to the State. As homeschool parents understand, we do not need to have a standardized test to inform us of our child’s progress. Teaching our children on a daily basis enables us to know how they are progressing. The Superintendent has the ability to check on students by requesting attendance records. Indiana also has educational neglect and truancy laws to deal with any issues that may arise.

When we are not entangled with the State, we have the ability to do what is the best for our children. We have the freedom to teach in the manner that best suits their needs. As Dr. Karen Effrem of Education Liberty Watch shares, Indiana is rated an “F” on the Private School Choice Freedom Grading Scale due to the regulations associated with vouchers in the Hoosier state. The schools that take vouchers must administer ISTEP; therefore, many schools feel obligated to teach Indiana’s version of Common Core in order to do well on the test.

In order to be reimbursed for ESA expenses, families must submit receipts for expenses. Would homeschool families eventually be at risk for using faith-based or non-Common Core curriculum? Would the State decide we are not providing an equivalent education since they would have the ability to evaluate our curriculum? The State ultimately decides which “choices” are acceptable. The State in charge of deciding which curriculum or providers are acceptable is a very troubling proposition. Homeschoolers currently have a real choice that is not limited by the State.

Home education works! Hoosier homeschoolers have proven that families of all income levels can successfully homeschool apart from government involvement. Leave us alone! The fact that families take this responsibility without State involvement should be encouraged. It increases self-respect and self-sufficiency. The IAHE Testimonial page is a source of encouraging stories of Hoosier families who have educated their children without government assistance.

Over the course of the past three decades, Hoosier home educators have proven it does not take a lot of money to educate a child. Many have had the experience of eventually having children who end up being better educated than their parents. It takes a dedicated parent and not an exorbitant amount of money to educate a child.

Note: There are a variety of types of ESAs. IAHE Action will assess each one and alert homeschoolers about required strings.