DFW News App

Homeschooling students complete schoolwork on Sept. 23, 2024, at Dasche Homeschool Co-op, which enrolls about 90 families from Tarrant and Ellis counties. (Courtesy photo | Danielle Smallwood, Dasche)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/homeschool-co-op.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/homeschool-co-op.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Tarrant County residents Audrey Davis and Matt Kuhlmann have never met, but they homeschooled their children for the same reasons.They like the freedom of homeschooling. They feel it’s more effective than public school education, keeps their families close and allows them to fold religious beliefs into their children’s curricula.But they’re at odds over Texas lawmakers’ push for vouchers, which would expand private school choice by giving parents taxpayer dollars to spend on their children’s education.Davis sees vouchers as a threat to homeschool freedom, while Kuhlmann wants his school taxes back in his pocket.The two parents represent the division over vouchers in the Tarrant County homeschooling community. Many families are skeptical of vouchers and the idea of taking money from the government, fearing the funds could come with regulation that chips away at homeschooling’s autonomy — the central appeal for many.Gov. Greg Abbott has pushed for a voucher-like initiative called education savings accounts, which would provide money to families for educational expenses like private school tuition and homeschooling resources. In 2023, he called four special sessions to pass voucher legislation, touting the benefits at private schools across the state including Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth. The governor plans to continue pushing the proposal when the Texas Legislature returns in January, and he could have enough votes in the House to pass a bill.Even if a voucher program for homeschoolers passes with “no strings attached,” Davis, who has homeschooled her children for more than 12 years, fears the programs could lead to a state crackdown on homeschooling down the road. “I am not in agreement with taking money from the government, no matter how it’s dressed up,” Davis said.Rachel Opper shares Davis’ sentiment. Opper grew up a homeschooler in Pennsylvania, and she now leads CHEAR, a homeschooling community in east Tarrant County that tutors 447 students.“Vouchers are a slippery slope,” Opper said. “It’s just another little loophole, another way for the government to take control of the homeschooling population.” Seventeen states have programs that use taxpayer dollars to expand school choice, according to EdChoice, a voucher-supporting nonprofit. Programs include traditional vouchers; education savings accounts; and tax credits.Homeschool trends in Tarrant County

For nearly three decades, Tarrant County has seen the third-highest rate of students leaving public schools for homeschooling, according to data from the Texas Education Agency and compiled by the Fort Worth-based Texas Home School Coalition. 

Between 2020 and 2023, the county saw 8,886 students in seventh grade and up switch to homeschooling.

The numbers, while limited, provide the only data on Texas homeschooling trends. The state does not track homeschooling student totals, instead reporting how many students in seventh through 12th grades leave public schools. 

Statewide, the Texas Home School Coalition estimates around 10% of Texas students are homeschooled, putting the community’s numbers between 500,000 and 620,000 — approximately the same number as charter school and private school populations.Skepticism not newIn Opper’s conversations with homeschooling parents about vouchers, she’s heard a central message. “It’s not a good idea, stay out of our education system, and let us continue doing what we’ve been doing for years,” she said. The concern conflicts with the stance of the Texas Home School Coalition, a core voice in the community in contact with about 100,000 homeschooling households. The Fort Worth-based organization argues vouchers would make homeschooling more accessible, said Jeremy Newman, the coalition’s director of public policy.A tutor pours drinks for homeschooling students on Sept. 23, 2024, at Dasche Homeschool Co-op, a community previously located in Arlington that now meets in Midlothian. (Courtesy photo | Danielle Smallwood, Dasche)Since the coalition formed in the late 1980s, it’s built a presence in Austin to lobby lawmakers to protect and expand homeschooling rights.In recent legislative sessions, the Texas Home School Coalition has influenced most drafts of voucher legislation, said Newman, whose faith drives his decision to homeschool his children. The coalition will support voucher proposals unless the policy significantly threatens homeschool freedom, which Newman doesn’t think is likely.Still, he isn’t surprised by the broader homeschool community’s skepticism of government.The feeling dates back to the Texas Home School Coalition’s first efforts to legalize homeschooling in the late 1980s, Newman said — a time when Texas school districts across the state were winning lawsuits against parents attempting to homeschool and, in some cases, involving Child Protective Services.Homeschoolers tried to stay under the radar to avoid legal headaches. Some parents opposed efforts to protect homeschooling through law, fearing that if homeschooling was legal, legislators might try to regulate and limit the practice, Newman said.“But the fact ‘they’ might pass a ‘bad’ bill someday is not a justification for killing a ‘good’ bill,” Newman tells skeptical homeschoolers. Davis doesn’t buy Newman’s argument. She’s a regional manager for Classical Conversations, a large homeschool conglomeration that hosts educational events and tutoring centered on classical education and Christianity. In Tarrant County, a Classical Conversations membership costs up to $2,000 annually per student, depending on grade level and degree of involvement.The organization has disavowed vouchers, arguing the programs “are stepping stones to increased government control of home and private education.”“If the government has some sort of tag into my homeschool, then they have this opportunity that could come down the road that says, ‘Well, if you want to keep the money, you need to do this,’” Davis said.Books for homeschooling parents fill a table at CHEAR Homeschool Co-op’s 2024-25 kick-off on Aug. 24, 2024, in Grand Prairie. At the start of the year, 233 families enrolled for tutoring at the co-op. (Drew Shaw | Fort Worth Report)Vouchers could fuel the rise of homeschoolingNewman thinks vouchers will fuel a rise in homeschooling, ultimately helping to “diversify education” beyond traditional public schools, he said.The sentiment fits into the broader narrative of school choice advocates, who say that more schooling options, and the competitiveness that follows, will improve education overall. “We want a system that can deliver a somewhat tailored product to 5 million different students, and a centralized education system is incapable of that,” Newman said. “It’s not to say the centralized education system isn’t useful. It just means it’s adequate.”Kuhlmann thinks competitive school choices will help public schools and teachers, both in districts where campuses are thriving and struggling.“Mansfield has good schools, so everybody wants to move there. “But then that isn’t feasible, and it hurts another area so (that area’s) schools are empty.” Opponents of a voucher-like program say the initiative would siphon money from already strapped-for-funds public school districts, hurting students who rely on the public school system.Questions of accountability measuresNewman of the Texas Home School Coalition doesn’t feel it’s necessary to have accountability measures that track how voucher recipients are educating their children, he said. However, in case lawmakers include them in legislation, families should be the ones who decide whether or not to participate in the program.Accountability measures could require voucher recipients to take standardized tests or submit their curricula to the state.   In states like Florida and Arizona — both legal havens for homeschoolers that have recently rolled out voucher programs — opponents have criticized the programs for lack of accountability for how parents spend funds. In Florida, approved voucher purchases have included theme park passes, 55-inch TVs and stand-up paddleboards for remaining funds after paying tuition and fees, according to the Tampa Bay Times.Opper, who opposes vouchers, said that if any voucher programs are established, she’d favor an accountability system to keep tabs on how parents receiving the funds are using them. “Some families I’ve seen just don’t homeschool their kids at all; they’re very lackadaisical when it comes to educating,” Opper said. “If there are opportunities for funds to help people in this economic environment, I think it would be good to know, ‘Hey, you’re actually doing what you’re supposed to do.’”Kuhlmann, a Mansfield resident, pays $600 a month for three of his children to take tutoring classes at CHEAR, the co-op led by Opper. If school vouchers were offered, Kuhlmann would take them. To him, vouchers feel like a fair way to use the public school taxes he pays but doesn’t directly benefit from, he said. Kuhlmann said he wouldn’t mind if his children had to take a state-mandated test to receive vouchers. They’ve taken standardized tests before. His oldest daughter, a high school senior, takes dual credit classes at Tarrant County College and had to pass a state exam to qualify.What have voucher proposals looked like in the past? 

Homeschoolers would receive vouchers in most floated education savings account proposals, and in a majority of cases they would receive less money than students in private schools, said Jeremy Newman of the Texas Home School Coalition. 

Senate Bill 1, a bill at the center of the Legislature’s third special session in 2023, proposed giving $1,000 annually per child to homeschooling parents and $8,000 for private schoolers.Wendy Johnson, a former private school teacher, homeschooled her two children because she liked the freedom of adapting their education to their individual learning styles.If vouchers, which Johnson called a “free money” scheme, introduced accountability measures, they would threaten that adaptability.   “We all know that free is never free,” Johnson said.Johnson now serves as the president and athletic director of ECCHO, a homeschool co-op of about 250 families from Tarrant and Ellis counties. Johnson said she’s found most other homeschooling parents in the community share her caution.“Anytime you get involved with the government, whether it be state or federal, whenever you let them into your personal freedoms, it just changes it,” Johnson said. “As homeschoolers, we’re very protective of that. As Texans, we’re very protective of that. It’s in our DNA.”Read more

How a ’90s lawsuit against Arlington ISD paved way for homeschooling across TexasDrew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.