Is School Choice a Trojan Horse for Homeschooling?

 

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The Context

The Alliance, a nonprofit association that supports homeschool organizations, produced the film Exposing a Trojan Horse in 2008.[1] It dealt, on a theoretical level with various issues related to homeschooling families taking government money – tax dollars – for educating their children or enrolling their children in certain “school choice programs.” The film’s producers held that parents would pay a hidden price to participate in these programs. Some predicted that public-school-at-home programs would dilute or compromise the freedoms or philosophical strengths of homeschooling (i.e., private parent-led family-based education). Some predicted that certain government/tax-sponsored schooling at home would decrease the portion of families engaging in home-based private education. Many in the homeschool movement have perceived tax-funded home-based schooling and certain “school choice” initiatives as a Trojan horse in the midst of the homeschool community.

Similarly, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) warned parents in 2002 about certain public charter schools being a Trojan Horse.[2] The HSLDA explained to its readers the following:

1. If you enroll in this program [Wisconsin Connections Academy public charter school], you will no longer be considered a private home schooler, and you will not be eligible for membership in the Home School Legal Defense Association. Our goal at HSLDA is to protect the right of parents to privately home school free from government controls and restrictions. The WCA is a tax-funded, government program with legitimate government controls and limitations.
2. …..
3. If you enroll your children in the WCA to receive your free curriculum and laptop, your children will no longer be considered private home school students, but rather public school students. This means you waive certain parental rights and agree to home school according to the public school's rules. In other states with similar "virtual" charter school programs, HSLDA has observed that more and more regulations are gradually placed on the enrolled home schooling family each year. If the family does not comply with the regulations, the "virtual" school will demand return of the computer, curriculum, etc. Home schoolers who become dependent on the "free" government equipment and funds find that their freedom is gradually exchanged for these "freebies."

The Alliance and HSLDA had little to no empirical research to support their claims and concerns. Recently, however, scholars Corey DeAngelis and Angela Dills published their study entitled, “Is School Choice a ‘Trojan Horse?’ The Effects of School Choice Laws on Homeschool Prevalence.” They decided to empirically examine the legitimacy of claims such as the following (on p. 1):

1. “School choice programs such as vouchers and charter schools expand lower cost schooling options for families.”
2. “School choice programs may reduce homeschooling if parents that otherwise would have homeschooled their children instead use a school choice program.”
3. “Homeschooling may increase if school choice programs act as a “Trojan Horse” by expanding government control in otherwise independent schools, pushing some families away from those options.”

Overall, DeAngelis and Dills empirically examined “… the legitimacy of such claims by looking at the effects of public and private school choice programs on the market share of homeschooling” (p. 1).

Methods

They estimated the effect of school choice programs on the prevalence of homeschooling using “difference-in-differences” (p. 3). The two measured the outcome variable of interest, percent homeschooled, in two separate ways. One was the “… state-reported figures of the homeschool share of the school-aged population and …” the second was “… the percent not enrolled in public or private schools for each state and year observation” (p. 3). Different from how many might define school-aged population, the researchers considered it “… as those aged 4 to 17 plus two-thirds of the 3-year-olds and one-third of the 18-year-olds …” (p. 3).

For the investigators, the explanatory variables of interest were voucher schools and charter schools. That is, they entered into their statistical models whether any given state had a voucher program or a charter school in any particular year. Thirty states were included in their sample across time.

Findings

Researchers DeAngelis and Dills executed and considered several statistical models in their analysis, and gave rationales for each one. They also understood that a private school, as separate from home education, “… may serve to support homeschooling, blurring the line between the two types of schools. For example,

in states without homeschool rights, parents can use a private school option to homeschool their children …” (p. 9). Therefore, the scholars explored some of the nuances and complications regarding this possibility by using data from the Private School Universe Survey (PSS) in certain states.

After presenting several models, these researchers reached a synthetic conclusion, as follows:

Across most specifications and both measures of homeschooling, we observe decreases in homeschooling post-charter school laws, at least once the program has been in place for a few years. The effects for vouchers in our preferred specification are either statistically insignificant or suggest declines in home education once the voucher has been in place for a few years. The mixed results for vouchers may be a result of private schools moving away from supporting homeschooling in the wake of the adoption of a voucher program. (p. 11)

That is, the weight of evidence is that there is a decrease in homeschooling (i.e., the percent of school-age children home educated) after charter school laws come into effect. Second, home education either shows no change, or decreases once the voucher has been in place for some years.

Further, DeAngelis and Dills noted that their “… analysis of the effect of school choice programs on school specialization is in accord with the findings from DeAngelis and Burke (2017), indicating that publicly funded private school choice programs induce homogenization of the supply of schools” (p. 11).

Summary

The empirical findings of DeAngelis and Dills reminds this author of Dr. Charles Glenn’s insightful and in-depth scholarly book, The Ambiguous Embrace: Government and Faith-Based Schools and Social Agencies[3] in which he explained that there are definite effects upon faith-based schools when they take government money (taxes). The book is full of the effects and many of them are negative from the perspective of keeping a strong, core, faith-based (e.g., Christian) mission and practice once taxes are taken. Glenn wrote the following:

Second – and equally dangerous – the [secular, professional] norms may come to be accepted by those who give direction to the organization as representing a better definition of good practice than that to which the school or agency was originally dedicated. This leads to a loss of nerve, a “pre-emptive capitulation” [footnote 12] that surrenders to the world even before its demand is made, a “seduction of the Samaritans” in Loconte’s evocative title. (p. 246)

Wrapping up regarding the effect of private organizations (e.g., schools) taking government money, tax dollars, Dr. Glenn concludes thusly:

Whatever the immediate reason, the long-term effect [of receiving public funds, tax dollars] is to reduce the distinctiveness and flavor that they [faith-based organizations, agencies, schools] are able to offer to the social service mix. (p. 257)

Perhaps The Alliance, HSLDA, and others were prescient and accurate about two decades ago when public-school-at-home and other tax-funded public school choice programs were hitting the American scene. If a homeschool family or organization wants to be truly free and distinctively different from civil government-run institutions and values and see the percent of school-age children being home educated increase, they should remember the old adage, He who pays the piper calls the tune.

 

--Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

National Home Education Research Institute

 

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Keywords, Categories, Tags: homeschooling, home schooling, home education, home-based education, school choice, empirical, research, voucher, charter school, public school at home program, government school at home program, Trojan horse.

 

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