An article in today’s Washington Post titled “Home-schoolers dismantled state oversight. Now they fear pushback” covers the growing tension between homeschoolers and those opposed to it, as well as the government’s push to regulate and provide oversight. The long and short of this is simple – the state has failed miserably when it comes to our nation’s education system, and any push to regulate homeschooling is a sign of more of the same.

Our educational institutions have become centers of indoctrination of one ideology or another, with little to no true substantive educational value. Just look at some statistics on the reading proficiency of high school seniors:

• According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), more than 60 percent of 12th grade students in the US scored below the proficient level in reading, and 27 percent scored below the basic level. This means our lowest-performing high school seniors do not even have partial mastery of grade-appropriate skills.
• In 2015, only 72 percent of 12th graders performed at or above the basic achievement level in reading.
• The average American reads at a 7th to 8th grade level.

These are abysmal facts, especially when you consider how much we spend on public K-12 education – $16,080 per pupil annually, for a total of $810 billion from federal, state and local governments.

Meanwhile, our school boards are more concerned about pronouns and bathroom policies than actual education. Do our kids even know what a pronoun is?

I was not a fan of homeschooling when my kids were young. But if they were elementary or middle school-aged today, I would do everything in my power to homeschool them.

The state needs to either stay out of the way of parents who care about their childrens’ education, or refocus on the basics – reading, math, actual science – not ideology or fads. Our kids deserve better than what public schools are providing today. If that means an expansion of homeschooling and independent oversight, so be it.