THE SCHOOL CHOICE TRAP: Exhibit A - H 5164

Freedom does not become something else just because people don’t know what it really is, can and should be. We do not enjoy educational freedom today; just look at compulsory  attendance law. H5164 will destroy what little freedom is left. Do not confuse “choice” with  freedom. 

Two basic truths— 

First, once something becomes elaborately legislated, it falls under the control of the ADMINISTRATIVE STATE, not the PEOPLE. 

Second, when money is involved there will ALWAYS be strings for receiving and using the largesse of the STATE. And the STATE will determine these strings, i.e. regulations, requirements, etc. If they do not appear in the first version of a bill, they WILL be amended in over time. Most people, who are enticed to take advantage of this financial boon, think of it as “free money.” They do not recognize that it actually comes through a redistribution of wealth and ironically will also impact their own economic well-being over time. 

The ESA bill (and PACE also, which some people want fervently to believe would somehow be different), WILL lead to decreased freedom for home schoolers. It will further also increase the tax burdens of every taxpayer as this is an add-on cost. Public education is not going to decrease in cost either, especially as we are forced to absorb millions of invaders and their offspring into our society and its benefits. The true cost is astronomical. 

The very phrase “…proposed expansion of ESTFs…” should strike terror in the hearts of any thinking lover of true freedom, individual responsibility, and parents’ God-given rights and responsibility to “raise up and child in the way he should go.” Those who would control education and thereby the minds of the people are just getting started. It is a simple reality of the administrative state that the first step is just getting a new law on the books, often under the guise of “helping” some “disadvantaged” group. From there it is only a matter of time before another step is solidified in restricting freedom for everyone. 

Starting about 50 years ago, early “modern day” home schoolers understood what they were fighting for. This bill flies in the face of the true value of educational freedom and the rights of parents to make all choices for their own children without interference from the state, which has its own purposes and agendas for how people must be trained, indoctrinated, and controlled. Anyone who does not fear this must be missing key understanding of what is really  happening. Attempting to rationalize how this bill does not do what it clearly does and will do with increasing force over time is ridiculous.  

Too many people live in a naive bubble of wishful thinking. Laws are not being passed to allow loopholes for those who might later realize getting enticed by free money or the well-promoted lure of the Pied Piper was a bad choice. Laws are being passed to open the door for MORE government control, not less. Stop this NOW or live like the proletariat masses the elites believe we are. 

There are other ways to support home education and parental involvement and leadership in raising their own children. Churches should support the God-given command for parents to raise up their children. Parents can form their own independent cooperative arrangements and  work together for the benefit of the children of multiple families, as many already do. Private initiatives and private schools could assist home schooling parents. The costs of educating a child are much less when the financial burden of the exploding size of the educational bureaucracy is eliminated. And the well-being of children is protected. Let us not get seduced by government interference.

After starting to home school her own children in the mid 1970s, Meg Johnson was recognized nationally and internationally as a home schooling pioneer and leader. She holds advanced degrees in education, has been a school teacher and administrator, is a published author, speaker and advocate for home schooling and parental rights. She was accepted for inclusion in multiple “Who’s Who” volumes of international leaders in the 1980s. Her deep understanding of the concepts of freedom, responsibility, rights, and the dangers of the  administrative state provide her with a sound perspective on the dangers we face from our government today.

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