As a father who has witnessed the education, or lack thereof, of my children in our public schools, I understand the importance and necessity of viable alternatives and options for parents who seek the best education for their children. A growing and increasing viable option for educating our children, and one that I wholeheartedly support, is home schooling (my wife and I are considering home schooling our girls next year). As the Federal Government continues to intervene in our education system, the academic progress of our students is falling behind that of several third world nations! Therefore, I am completely committed to keeping home schooling a viable and practical alternative for American families.
We, as Americans, MUST be able to return the control of our education to our families. I agree with Rep. Ron Paul who seeks to INCREASE and advance tax credits for families through the Family Education Freedom Act. This would allow individuals income tax credit of up to $5000 (adjusted for inflation) for EVERY student to cover expenses and tuition associated with schooling (private, parochial and public), including but not limited too extracurricular activities and home schooling.
Second, our politicians should work to ensure parity for home school diplomas and allow home school students equal scholarship opportunities when entering colleges and universities. We must also work to guarantee the permanency of the Department of Defense Home School Tier 1 Pilot Program which guarantees equal recruitment status for our home school children who wish to serve their country in our military.
Third, we MUST fight to keep the Federal Government, through the Department of Education, from regulating the activities and studies of home school students. This includes, but is not limited to, setting national standards and/or testing of home school students and families, enshrining a Home School Bill of Rights and guaranteeing that home school students will not be limited by the imposition of a national curriculum.
Fourth, as they do here in Nashville, home school families ought NOT to have to pay up to an additional $80 fee to the Metro Public School system for "permission" to educate or children at home. If our schools are failing to educate our children and our families exercise their right to home school their children, they should NOT be penalized for doing so. I would work to abolish this fee and any other "administrative" fee charged to home school families by our local government and the Department of Education.
Finally, I will ACTIVELY vote to OPPOSE any penalties or regulation on home school families by the Federal Government in an effort to undermine home schooling our students. It is up to American families to properly educate our children since they government fails miserably in this task, and we must ensure academic freedom throughout our nation for ALL families and ALL students.
