This week, Representative Jim Walsh pre-filed a bill regarding school choice which would amend current law and add what’s being called the “family empowerment scholarship program.” The intent of these scholarships would be to allow more parents to have freedom of choice for their children’s schooling without the heavy financial burden. As it’s currently written, HB 1093 says that 100,000 scholarships in the amount of $12,000 would be awarded to children on a first come, first served basis with the funding being applied to the private school or home-based learning program of the parents’ choosing.
This bill was attempted almost identically last year (also by Rep. Walsh), although it didn’t pass (in fact, it didn’t even make it to a committee). The intent is noble in that Rep. Walsh is attempting to give families a choice- specifically, to pull them out of public schools (also known as government schools, also known as indoctrination camps). Lower income families would benefit from this scholarship program greatly, as many of these families can’t afford private school and can’t afford to cut back on working to accommodate homeschooling. The funds awarded could be used for things like homeschool curricula, private school or online school tuition, textbooks, tutoring, computers, uniforms, and testing.
The bill reads, “Parents are and should be the primary decision makers about their children’s well-being, including about what is best for their children’s education…The state should empower and support families to choose the educational environment that best suits each student’s needs.” Even so, savvy homeschooling parents will hear of this program and cringe, as they know that government funding also equals government opinion in curricula.
The bill includes a new section to RCW 28A.150, Section 2 (7)(a), which reads, “This act does not permit any government agency to exercise control or supervision over any private school or home-based instruction.” It was wise of Rep. Walsh to include such language in his bill, but will this be enough to ensure the government stays out of homeschooling curricula?
One reason conservatives fight so hard to maintain full Second Amendment rights is because we know that those rights can continue to be chipped away once the first opportunity to do so is given. This seems to be the same type of situation: If this type of school choice is passed, what is to stop the government to put small stipulations and further restrictions on the money, how it’s used, etc., every year until the intent of the original bill is no longer recognizable?
That’s not to say that we don’t want to have school choice- certainly students deserve to be funded over a school system. But we do need to find a better way to make sure parents are making the best decisions for their families without influence from the government.
We have started a conversation with newly elected 18th Legislative District Representative Stephanie McClintock, who will be serving on the House K-12 committee, about our concerns. This is a bill that Moms For America will be watching, and we will be sure to bring updates as we get them.