Data Shows College Degrees And Income Aren’t The Only Measures Of Educational Success

There are many ways to measure the success of education, and while money and education are often good metrics, they cannot be the only metric we use.

Democrat Bill Would Create ‘Prison Pipeline’ For Illinois’ Homeschooling Parents, Critics Say

Illinois’ Democrat-run legislature is fast-tracking a bill that critics say attempts to criminalize parents’ ability to homeschool their children in the Prairie State. This bill “continues that prison pipeline for homeschool parents,” said Will Estrada, senior counsel for the Home School Legal Defense Association. Dubbed “The Homeschool Act” (HB 2827), the measure in question seemingly […]

Illinois Democrats beloved by teachers' unions target homeschooling families, religious schools



A new bill that will soon be passed along for a full vote in the Illinois state House takes aim at religious schools and parents who homeschool their children.

On Wednesday, lawmakers on the House Education Policy Committee gathered to consider HB 2827, better known as the Homeschool Act.

The bill not only requires all private and religious elementary and secondary schools to register with the state annually, but it also requires these schools to share sensitive information about their students, like names and home addresses. It also requires these private schools to make plain their policies and specifically promise not to restrict hairstyles "historically associated with race" or "ethnicity."

'This bill invades our privacy, is unconstitutional, and ... interferes with parental rights.'

Furthermore, the bill requires all homeschooling parents and guardians — who must have a high school diploma or the equivalent — to fill out a homeschool declaration form about their homeschooled children and submit the form to the public school or school district the children would otherwise attend. The form must be resubmitted every year that the children are homeschooled, or the child may be considered truant.

District and/or office of education officials may also demand that homeschool administrators provide a homeschooled child's "educational portfolio" — comprising "samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed by the child" — on demand.

Homeschooled children who wish to participate in extracurricular activities at public schools, such as sports, must likewise submit proof of immunizations and health examinations or provide a certificate of religious exemption.

Homeschooling parents and guardians who fail to comply with the measure could face misdemeanor charges, WTTW reported.

The bill was introduced by state Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Glen Ellyn) and enjoys more than a dozen cosponsors, all of whom are Democrat, many of whom are women, and at least one of whom has blue hair.

Costa Howard claimed the bill is necessary to protect children who may be the victims of abusive parents or guardians. Such parents, the theory goes, can conceal their maltreatment by keeping their children at home and away from the scrutinizing eyes of teachers, administrators, and coaches.

"Currently, Illinois has zero, I’m going to say it again, zero regulations," Costa Howard said during deliberations about the bill. "Thirty-eight states have regulations. Illinois is an outlier. This is not something we want to be an outlier on."

"We have tracked over 500 cases of extreme abuse and neglect in homeschool settings where the abuse escalated because of the isolation afforded through homeschooling," claimed Jonah Stewart, research director of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education.

However, homeschooling parents and advocates decried such presumptions about their motives.

"The proponents claim that children who are being homeschooled are at greater risk of abuse and neglect. This is not supported by the two peer-reviewed studies that have been produced," countered Will Estrada, senior counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association.

"This bill targets homeschool parents and treats us as criminals, guilty until proven innocent," said Aziza Butler, a former public school teacher who now homeschools her children.

"We believe [this] is religious persecution," added homeschool parent Latasha Fields. "That's what we believe. We believe it really is because this bill invades our privacy, is unconstitutional, and it does. It threatens, and it overreach[es], and it interferes with parental rights."

Some worry that the bill could be selectively enforced and possibly lead to harassment of law-abiding Christians and other homeschoolers, though Costa Howard insisted that investigations into homeschooling families would occur only in response to serious allegations.

Others noted that children have not necessarily been safe on the campuses of their local public schools. Just last week, Christina Formella, a 30-year-old special education teacher and soccer coach in Downers Grove, Illinois, was charged with multiple sex-related offenses after she allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy inside a classroom in December 2023.

Thousands of concerned parents like Fields and Butler crowded the capitol on Wednesday, singing hymns and patriotic songs to protest the bill — a far cry from the disruptive and sometimes violent demonstrations by leftists at other capitol buildings around the country in recent years.

These parents and homeschooling groups also submitted a staggering 40,000 witness slips opposing the bill, while supporters garnered fewer than 1,000 witness slips.

Nevertheless, the bill passed the House Education Policy Committee 8-4. All Democrats voted in favor of it except one, who voted present. The bill will now move on to the entire state House floor for a vote.

Of note, three of the Democrat cosponsors of the Homeschool Act are among the top recipients of political donations from the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Since 2010, the campaigns for state Reps. Costa Howard, Katie Stuart, and Janet Yang Rohr have received more than $630,000 in donations total from the IFT, according to watchdog group Illinois Policy.

The Illinois Education Association even honored Costa Howard with an award for her "deep support of public education" and positive impact on "all our education support personnel."

"Costa Howard is champion of the rights for our education employees. We are proud to honor her with our Friend of Education award," the union stated in April 2022.

Costa Howard did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Illinois Bill Would Let Failing School System Send Homeschooling Parents To Jail

A new bill requires parents to report themselves to their local school district, and parents who do not will be considered truant.

Liberal Judge Susan Crawford’s Husband Promotes Lawfare Against Homeschool Families

Progressive Judge Susan Crawford is running for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Her husband wrote a book against homeschooling.

Survey: Homeschooled Adults Are More Religious And Less Anxious

'Long-term homeschoolers exhibited the highest levels of optimism, gratitude, and life satisfaction.'

Virginia Democrat seeks to restrict reasons Americans can give for homeschooling their children



Virginia state Sen. Stella Pekarsky, a former Fairfax County Public Schools teacher and school board representative, introduced a bill earlier this month that critics claim would undermine the rights of parents and transmogrify the religious exemption for homeschooling families in the state.

State law presently requires that parents seeking to homeschool their children must notify the division superintendent ahead of the school year, provide a description of their planned curriculum, and demonstrate satisfaction of one of several criteria, such as the completion of a high school diploma.

Pekarsky's SB 1031 would amend the law such that a simple notice of intent would no longer be enough. The Democratic bill states that parens hoping to homeschool their child would now have to notify the division superintendent "of the intention to receive an exemption from school attendance by reason of bona fide religious training or belief."

The legislation clarifies that "'bona fide religious training or belief' does not include essentially political, sociological or philosophical views or a merely personal moral code."

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women's Network, noted in the Federalist that the legislation would not only limit the reasons parents can give for homeschooling their children but empower state officials to make judgments about the authenticity of Virginians' beliefs.

"Is it appropriate for the state government to be assessing citizens' religions as 'bona fide' or otherwise?" wrote Lundquist-Arora.

The Home School Legal Defense Association indicated in a recent message to members that the roots of Pekarsky's bill "are in a worldview that distrusts parents, fears the freedoms parents currently enjoy, and thinks that the government can do a better job."

'I find this legislation particularly abhorrent.'

The parental rights group Virginia Education Opportunity Alliance suggested that the bill "threatens the religious exemption for homeschooling families in Virginia, potentially undermining the right to educate children based on faith-based convictions."

The Home Educators Association of Virginia implored Virginians to contact Pekarsky's office as well as the members on the state Senate Public Education subcommittee, state Sens. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D), Mamie Locke (D), Mark Peake (R), and Christie New Craig (R), and implore the lawmakers to kill the bill.

Lundquist-Arora noted that the present breakdown of the students homeschooled in the state reveals precisely why the Democratic legislation qualifies as an attack on the freedom of families who have opted out of the scandal-plagued mainstream systems for reasons other than religion.

Virginia Department of Education data shows that among the 56,008 students currently in home instruction, only 6,755 students are enjoying home instruction because of religious exemptions.

"As a mother who homeschooled my three children for the 2020-21 academic year when Pekarsky and the other 11 Democratic-endorsed members of the Fairfax County School Board closed the district’s schools, I find this legislation particularly abhorrent," said Lundquist-Arora.

The Washington Post indicated in a late 2023 report that homeschooling was America's fastest-growing form of education. The Post indicated the number of homeschooled students jumped 51% over the previous six years, while private school enrollment increased by 7% and public school enrollment dropped by 4%.

Last year, Forbes noted that whereas in 2019, there were roughly 2.5 million students homeschooled in the nation, that number has shot up to 4 million or higher.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Here's what Trump's win means for schooling in America — and the Education Department



President-elect Donald Trump has big plans for education in America.

When asked about what the Republican has in mind, Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Time, "The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail. He will deliver."

If Trump delivers on his campaign promises and corresponding Agenda47 plan for education, then the Education Department as it now exists is toast, and most of its present responsibilities are likely headed back to the states.

Extra to hollowing out the Education Department, Trump has also promised universal school choice; protections for prayer in public schools; a prioritization of reading, writing, and arithmetic and an ejection of leftist propaganda; a switch from tenure to merit pay for teachers; and a federal reinforcement of parental rights.

In a September 2023 video outlining his ten principles for improving schools, Trump noted, "The United States spends more money on education than any other country in the world. And yet we get the worst outcomes. We are at the bottom of every list. In total, American society pours more than a trillion dollars a year into public education systems. But instead of being at the top of the list, we are literally right smack — guess what — at the bottom."

According to the Education Data Initiative, K-12 public schools blow through around $857.2 billion annually, with the federal government covering at least 13.6% with taxpayer funds. Costs have grown rapidly over the years.

The nationwide public K-12 annual spending per pupil in the 2011-2012 school year was $10,648. This year, the per-pupil cost for a substandard education was $17,280.

Despite the U.S. ranking fourth among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development members for spending on elementary education, the quality of education leaves much to be desired.

Recent estimates from the National Literacy Institute indicated that roughly 40% of students across the nation cannot read at a basic level. The National Center for Education Statistics revealed that when compared to 80 other nations' education systems in 2022, the U.S. average math literacy score for 15-year-old students was lower than the average in 25 education systems. The NAEP also found that as of 2022, only 26% of eighth-grade public school students across the country were proficient in math.

A Pew Research Center survey revealed earlier this year that 51% of American adults figure the public K-12 education system is headed in the wrong direction. A separate survey of public school teachers found that 82% of respondents figured the state of education has worsened over the past five years.

'You can't do worse.'

"Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we're doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work, and in life and the world of keeping our country strong, so they can grow up to be happy, prosperous, and independent citizens," said Trump.

The once and future president indicated that in order to optimize education and schools in America, it is necessary to:

  • "respect the rights of parents to control the education of their children";
  • "empower parents and local school boards to hire and reward great principals and teachers, and also to fire the poor ones";
  • "ensure our classrooms are focused not on political indoctrination, but on teaching the knowledge and skills needed to succeed";
  • "teach students to love their country";
  • "support bringing back prayer to our schools";
  • institute "immediate expulsion for any student who harms a teacher or another student";
  • "ensure students have access to project-based learning experiences inside the classroom";
  • "strive to give all students access to internships and work experiences that can set them on a path to their first job"; and
  • "ensure that all schools provide excellent jobs and career counseling."

Trump also indicated that his administration would effectively "close" the Education Department, which has been a Cabinet-level agency since 1980, and send "all education and education work and needs back to the states."

"We want [the states] to run the education of our children, because they'll do a much better job of it," said Trump. "You can't do worse. We spend more money per pupil, by three times, than any other nation. And yet we're absolutely at the bottom. We're one of the worst. So you can't do worse. We're going to end education coming out of Washington D.C. We're going to close it up — all those buildings all over the place and yet people that in many cases hate our children. We're going to send it all back to the states."

'I figure we'll have like one person plus a secretary.'

Blaze News reached out to the Education Department but did not immediately receive a response.

Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, told Time, "It is entirely feasible to close down the Department of Education, but the functions of the Department of Education will need to continue."

With the Republican trifecta in Washington, D.C., Trump will likely be able to significantly reduce or possibly even cut funds for racist DEI and critical race theory programming.

Virginia Rep. Ben Cline (R) recently told Fox Business that it would be possible to slash trillions of dollars in government spending as Elon Musk, the potentially oncoming Department of Government Efficiency head, has proposed.

When asked where deep cuts could be made, Cline said, "Well, let's just look at the Department of Education and how billions of dollars stay in Washington, funding bureaucrats whose simple goal is to interfere in the decisions about educational choice at local and state levels."

In October, Trump signaled at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, what his ideal Education Department would look like after he's done with it:

I figure we'll have, like, one person plus a secretary. You'll have a secretary to a secretary. We'll have one person plus a secretary, and all the person has to do is, "Are you teaching English? Are you teaching arithmetic? What are you doing? Reading, writing, and arithmetic. And are you not teaching woke?"

"All they're going to do is see that the basics are taken care of," added Trump.

Trump's proposal in some ways resembles the memorandum advanced in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan's Education Secretary Terrel H. Bell, which advocated for turning the department into a foundation tasked primarily with administering block grants, collecting information, and conducting research.

Education Weekly reported at the time that Bell's unrealized proposal suggested that most of the department's activities would ultimately be "transferred, terminated, or modified as new Administration policies are implemented." For example, the functions for the department's Office for Civil Rights could be moved to the Justice Department.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Why most parents can homeschool — so don't believe this viral lie



Every few months, the dumpster fire formerly known as Twitter informs me that I shouldn't be homeschooling my kids. The accusations are often hurled down from Mount Olympus as stern rebukes: They won't be properly socialized! They'll receive a substandard education! They'll become Republicans!

More recently, however, Dr. Caitlin Baird raised concerns that were more bemused than disparaging. She wrote "seriously…what makes anyone believe they're qualified to homeschool their kids K-12?" Even with "4 degrees in both the sciences and the humanities," she said that she "would never presume to believe [she] was qualified to teach."

"But," she added, "maybe I'm missing something."

If your public school taught you to read well, then you can teach your kids to read well. And if public school didn't teach you to read well, why exactly do you want to send your kids there?

In the spirit of dialogue, I'd like to address her concerns, because she is indeed missing something. My goal is modest: to assure nervous young parents that they are qualified to teach their children and to encourage them to at least consider homeschooling as an option.

First, I find it extremely odd for educated people to insist that they aren't qualified to homeschool. I want to ask them, "Can you read? Can you write your name? Do you know your shapes and numbers? What does the cow say?" If you answered "yes," "yes," "yes," and "moo" to these questions, congratulations, you have mastered kindergarten. If you can add, subtract, and multiply, your knowledge will carry you all the way through third grade. Throw in long division and fractions, and you're probably good through fifth. And if you need a refresher on percentages, take a few weeks and relearn them. If Billy Madison could do it, so can you.

Some commenters on Twitter argued that it's arrogant to claim you're qualified to teach reading simply because you know how to read. To them, that's like claiming you're qualified to manage a restaurant because you once ate at an Olive Garden. But that's a bad analogy. In reality, if you spent 13 years learning how to manage restaurants from teachers who knew how to manage restaurants and have been managing restaurants for your entire adult life, then yes, you probably are qualified to teach your kids how to manage restaurants. Believe it or not, this is how many family trades worked for centuries.

In the same way, if your public school taught you to read well, then you can teach your kids to read well. And if public school didn't teach you to read well, why exactly do you want to send your kids there?

Second, some parents may feel capable of teaching their kids reading, writing, and math. But they ask, "What about other subjects like history, science, and art?" I'm only partly joking when I say, "They can learn those later." When I think back to my own public school education, it feels like I repeated the same lessons about the Pilgrims, photosynthesis, and torn paper collages every year until I turned 12.

Be honest: Do you really remember all the facts you memorized in your fifth grade social studies class? What you've likely retained are those skills that you continued to use throughout your life, skills like … drum roll … reading, writing, and math. Consequently, these are the topics you should emphasize in the early years.

Moreover, the internet is teeming with high-quality content on a variety of subjects. Some of it is for purchase, but much of it is completely free. Lean into these tools. After that, you can add art, music, sports, and foreign language as you see fit. However, these activities mostly take place outside school hours already.

The bottom line is that if your child's primary school education is focused on the three Rs, he’ll probably be fine. Your voracious 11-year-old reader will not be permanently handicapped in U.S. history because he didn't make a macaroni-art picture of the Mayflower in first grade. And once children enter high school, there are all kinds of options for supplemental and concurrent education through community colleges, summer schools, and distance learning programs.

Third, how can you ward off the question homeschooling parents most dread, "What about socialization?"

One word: co-op.

This frequent, individually tailored instruction will be provided by someone (you) who knows and loves your children better than anyone else in the world.

There are thousands of homeschool co-ops scattered all over the country that employ a variety of educational frameworks. Not only will they often provide you with a complete curriculum that covers all the major subjects, they will connect you to other seasoned homeschooling parents who can answer your questions, point you to resources, and offer advice. Between our Classical Conversations co-op, church, youth group, Trail Life, Science Olympiad, and cross-country practice, my kids spend plenty of time with their peers. The only "socialization" they're missing out on is being stuffed into a locker, having their lunch money stolen, and being forced to watch the chorus teacher sing a Janet Jackson tribute medley during morning assembly.

Fourth, when people complain that homeschoolers receive a substandard education, they need to be asked, "Compared to what?"

Let's be honest: Public schools aren't doing well. In 2019, only 37% of 12th graders were deemed proficient in reading, and 30% did not even achieve a basic reading level on a national test. Many parents were very dissatisfied by what they witnessed in their kids' virtual classrooms during COVID lockdowns.

Since studies routinely show that homeschoolers academically outperform their public school counterparts, why isn't it considered a viable educational alternative?

Finally, homeschooling has benefits that no public or private school can provide. Unless you have your own reality TV show with a title like "Tim and Jean Have Seventeen," your student-to-teacher ratio will be far lower than anything a traditional school can offer. This frequent, individually tailored instruction will be provided by someone (you) who knows and loves your children better than anyone else in the world. And you'll be able to shape your kids' character in ways that public schools can't. Some of my family's most important and educational conversations about science or theology or economics happen not while we're in the classroom but while we're in the car on the way to the grocery store.

Homeschooling isn't for everyone. Sometimes it's an impossibility due to financial constraints or the special needs of your kids. Sometimes parents are truly unequipped to teach even basic skills. Sometimes local public or private schools are excellent. However, I want to encourage every parent to consider homeschooling as a live option, at least for the first few years of elementary school.

Today, with homeschooling exploding across the country, I hope that skeptics like Dr. Baird will talk to a few homeschooling families and homeschool alumni in their areas and will try to keep an open mind. Like public school or karaoke or dad jokes, homeschooling can be done poorly. But it can also be done well. And when it's done well, it is joyful and fulfilling in a way that few things can be.

The cost of public schooling demands that Christians answer this important question



Christian parents have long understood that it is their responsibility to raise their children "in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). Yet today, many have entrusted this duty to a system that is rooted in secularism.

Since its birth, the modern public education system has been a seedbed of naturalistic secularism. With this foundation, it is no surprise that schools often lean heavily toward progressive, leftist ideals. Karl Marx said, “The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother’s care, shall be in state institutions.” This is a recurring theme among secularists who view the human as a tabula rasa, or blank slate. Education and proper conditioning are their guides to achieving paradise.

Even if you don’t buy the premise above, it is undeniable that public schools have been a battleground for the left to promote its progressive views on gender and sexuality. What is a woman? What is a little boy? Who are you to tell your child that God made him male and that wearing dresses while in school, without the consent or knowledge of his parents, is unacceptable?

If private or homeschool education can provide a far superior outcome than the public education system while instilling future generations with a solidly Christian worldview, why do some Christians continue sending little Tommy and Susie to be discipled by the state?

It all boils down to a matter of priority.

For many middle-class evangelical families, two incomes seem necessary to maintain a certain lifestyle — complete with a $500,000 home in the suburbs, a white picket fence, and two cars in the garage.

Self-sacrifice should be the natural reflex of Christian parents toward their children, especially regarding education.

Of course, they’ve listened to Dave Ramsey and only maintain a single car payment. Mom and Dad both have hobbies, which they enjoy on the weekends. They go to church on Sunday, except when it's baseball season because little Tommy made the travel league this year.

After dinner, the children spend hours on homework because having high-performing kids is a priority. Never mind the well-known failure of Common Core math and the historical revisionism that is rampant in today's curriculum. Perhaps one of the kids will bring up something uncomfortable his civics teacher said in class. You know, the one with blue hair, tattoos, and multiple piercings; she talks about transitioning even though it has nothing to do with the subject matter. “Hmm,” Dad says, “that’s odd. You should ask your youth pastor about that on Wednesday.”

That is the extent of discipleship because everyone needs to get to bed, so they can go to school and work and perform this daily ritual again.

Families like this across the country have taken to social media to decry the abuses in the school system. They show up at school board meetings and give their 10-minute rants to people who could not care less. Beyond all reasoning, they continue to send their children into these environments.

Would parents continue sending their children to school if they knew the risks of emotional, spiritual, and even physical harm were high? How high would that risk need to be before they reconsidered?

This is a personal decision all parents need to make for their situations, but the times have shown an alarming increase in the risk of harm.

One has to ask: If the public education system is riddled with so many problems, why are Christian families still sending their children to be chewed up and spit out as transitioned Marxists?

The answer is affluence and comfort.

As Francis Schaeffer wrote in his book "How Should We Then Live?"

Politics has largely become not a matter of ideals — increasingly men and women are not stirred by the values of liberty and truth — but of supplying a constituency with a frosting of personal peace and affluence. They know that voices will not be raised as long as people have these things, or at least an illusion of them.

In other words, most people just want to be left alone with all their modern comforts and conveniences. Schaeffer was speaking mainly about politics, but the symptoms are the same among evangelicals unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices to obtain a Christian education for their children.

Private schools are expensive, so something is going to have to give in the budget. Homeschooling, while not necessarily expensive, requires at least one parent to be present to teach. That reduces the family to a single income. They could maintain two incomes with creative scheduling, but homeschooling children is a full-time task.

'Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.' (2 Corinthians 12:14-15)

The apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, considered himself their spiritual father. In 2 Corinthians 12:14-15, Paul uses an analogy of the disposition of parents to their children. Parents are the ones who “save up” for their children. This is how God designed familial relations. This is natural.

Self-sacrifice should be the natural reflex of Christian parents toward their children, especially regarding education.

For thousands of years, theologians and pastors have agreed that parents — specifically fathers — are responsible for their children’s education. Moses says you are to teach them “when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise" (Deuteronomy 6:7).

Youth and young adults coming out of evangelical churches today apostatize at an alarming rate. Pastor Voddie Baucham quipped, “We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.”

Raising children is Great Commission work. Children are the immediate image-bearers parents have been called to make into disciples of Christ.

Christians, the call is clear: Education is a significant part of the discipleship of your children, and the future of their faith hangs in the balance. Will you make the sacrifices necessary to teach them that "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3) are found in Christ, the solid rock? Will you, like Paul, “be spent” for the souls of your children?