“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” Many homeschoolers have embraced this lesson after learning it the hard way.

That vigilance has paid off recently in a couple of states where lawmakers unsuccessfully attempted to create new homeschool regulations. On June 5th, a bill to impose more paperwork and reporting requirements on New Jersey homeschoolers was withdrawn when those affected showed up to oppose it. Days before, a similar proposal to heap burdens on Illinois homeschool families was finally declared dead. Hundreds of those families garnered national attention by turning out at their own state Capitol.

But homeschoolers can’t let down their guard for even a second. The same day the New Jersey senator pulled her bill from committee, some of her colleagues introduced even more draconian legislation. Senate Bill 4589 would require every home educated child and parent in the state to meet annually with a representative of their local school district for an undefined “health and wellness check of the child.” An additional legislative proposal, Assembly Bill 5825, would require families to comply with state curriculum standards and submit new paperwork requirements to local school district officials twice a year.

Efforts to increase regulations have been spurred by the growth in home education in the wake of COVID-19. It’s hard to pin down the number of homeschoolers, because many states don’t keep track, but the Johns Hopkins Homeschool Hub estimates around 5–6 percent of students nationally, or around 2.5 to 3 million children. Some estimates are even higher.

There are a variety of reasons for the growth in homeschooling, including parental frustration with the academic content and values confronting their children in schools, families realizing they liked at-home learning when they were forced into it by school closures, and concerns about student safety. The spread of school choice programs, such as education savings accounts (ESAs), that can be used for a variety of education expenses has also likely contributed to the rising numbers.

This brings us to one of the great paradoxes in education today: many homeschool groups fear school choice because they worry it will lead to more government control. But in practice, school choice and homeschool freedom often go hand in hand. Thousands of families in states like Arizona, Florida, Arkansas and New Hampshire experience these benefits.

On the surface, opposition to school choice among longstanding homeschoolers makes sense, given that homeschooling was illegal in most states for many decades–and was still illegal in Iowa, Michigan, and North Dakota as recently as 1989. Parents who wanted to homeschool were forced into legal and legislative fights to secure that right. No wonder many homeschoolers keep as much distance from the government as possible. They just want to be left alone.

But the first ESA was enacted in 2011, and there are now more than a dozen states that allow parents to use school choice programs for home-based education. A 2024 study by Angela Watson from Johns Hopkins University and the Texas Home School Coalition’s Jeremy Newman found “no evidence that public funding of private school choice has impacted homeschool policy.” 

While there have certainly been attempts to reduce homeschool freedom over the years, this has happened regardless of school choice. And the biggest threats have come from states that also reject choice programs, such as the previously mentioned attempts in Illinois and New Jersey.

Illinois is particularly interesting, since it took the unprecedented step of letting its only school choice program expire in 2023. Governed by the same majority, state lawmakers attempted to greatly increase homeschool regulations this year.

Meanwhile, Wyoming took the opposite approach–expanding both homeschool freedom and school choice. In February, the governor signed the Homeschool Freedom Act, which rolled back regulations on homeschoolers. The following week, he signed a bill to make the state’s education savings account program open to all students instead of being limited to those from low-income families.

The contrast between Wyoming and Illinois shouldn’t be surprising. Supporters of educational freedom want to expand both school choice and homeschooling. Opponents of educational freedom want to restrict school choice and homeschooling. With or without taxpayer funding, as more families choose home education, there will be more calls for regulations. The monopoly school system doesn’t relinquish large numbers of students without a fight.

Homeschoolers of all stripes will find their strongest allies among those advancing the boundaries of educational freedom, including through ESAs and other funded programs. They should be wary of the forces entrenched against it.