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Introduction

Thirteen-year-old Rebecca Sealfon of Brooklyn, New

York, brought new attention to the growing phenomenon of

homeschooling when she became the first homeschooled child

to win the National Spelling Bee.  She was one of 17 home-

schooled students among 245 competitors in the 70th annual

bee, held in May 1997.1

The rise of homeschooling, of course, reflects broaden-

ing dissatisfaction with formal education in the United

States.  From its modest beginnings in one-room schoolhous-

es, American education has grown into a gargantuan govern-

ment enterprise.  Today, about 50 million students attend

more than 85,000 public schools and more than 26,000 private

schools.2  Education is the largest line item in most state

budgets.  The average per pupil expenditure in America's

public schools is $6,993.3

Ironically, given the amount of money expended on

teaching young people, public dissatisfaction with America's

schools is high.  In a Gallup Poll, "The Public's Attitudes

toward the Public Schools," 45 percent of the respondents

gave America's schools low grades--C, D, or F.4

Dissatisfaction is high for two reasons.  First, Ameri-

can public schools are turning out a poor product--illiter-

ate and unprepared graduates.  For example, American 13-

year-olds have been documented as having math skills that

rank below those of 13-year-olds in 14 other developed

countries.5  One survey noted that only one in three high

school juniors could place the Civil War in the right half

century.6  Not coincidentally, American companies are spend-

ing billions of dollars a year on remedial education for

their employees.7

Equally troubling, public schools have become crime

scenes where drugs are sold, teachers are robbed, and home-

made bombs are found in lockers.  A Metropolitan Life study

released in 1993 reported that over 10 percent of teachers

and 25 percent of students had been victims of violence at

or near their public schools.8

To compound the problem, teachers' unions, school offi-

cials, and many politicians adamantly oppose the use of

public monies for innovative solutions, such as vouchers and

charter schools.  Those alternatives, although not a panacea