Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-07-27)

◼ POLITICS Bloomberg Businessweek July 27, 2020

31

PHOTOGRAPH

BY

RYAN

DUFFIN

FOR

BLOOMBERG

BUSINESSWEEK;

DATA:

GALLUP

ChristineMorgan,a motherinPeachtreeCity,Ga.,

callsherself“abigproponentofpublicschools.”

Butafterdealingwithherdistrict’sremote-learning

offeringsthispastspring—whichshesayswere

scantoninstructionandheavyonbusywork—she

decidedtolookathomeschoolingforherrising

fourthgrader.“Iwouldconsidersendingmykid

backtobrick-and-mortarschoolif everyonewere

takingthevirusseriouslyandtakingprecautions,”

shesays.“Butit’sGeorgia,andtheyarenot.”

BeforetheCovid-19pandemicbegan,about

4%ofschool-agechildrenintheU.S.werehome-

schooled,accordingtotheNationalHomeEducation

ResearchInstitute.Manymorefamiliesareweighing

theoptionforthefall,eitherfrustratedwithremote

learningthroughtheirpublicschoolornervous

aboutthehealthrisksofsendingtheirchildreninto

buildingswithothers.Schoolchoiceproponents,

who’velongadvocatedthatper-pupil spending

should “follow the child” wherever they seek their

education, hope to capitalize on the shift. And with

the backing of President Trump and Republicans

in Congress, home schooling could get the biggest

boost it’s ever gotten from the federal government

in the next round of stimulus funding.

In April the American Federation for Children,

a national school choice group that was formerly

chaired by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos,

commissioned a poll and found that 40% of fami-

lies were more likely to consider home schooling

even after lockdowns ended. Tommy Schultz, the

group’s vice president, says the results were ini-

tially met with skepticism: “Some people were say-

ing, ‘Well, those numbers are inflated and it’s too

early to tell.’ ” But in late May, a separate Ipsos/USA

Today poll found 60% of parents were consider-

ing home schooling in the fall and 30% were “very

likely” to make the switch.

“We started putting on social media, ‘Hey, we’re

spending on average $15,000 per kid for public

schools. Shouldn’t families get some of that back

to support home education?’ and that sort of mes-

saging just skyrocketed in terms of interest and

engagement,” Schultz says. “We’ve been running

online petitions, and it’s the single largest spike in

advocacy we’ve ever seen.”

Brittany Wade, a mother of five in Washington,

D.C., is among the parents who think the govern-

ment should do more to help families shoulder the

cost of home schooling. Wade and her husband

considered opting out of public school even before

the pandemic, frustrated with what they felt was a

stagnant curriculum offering too little Black history.

Wade helped her children with remote learning

through the spring and says the difficulty of that

experiencehastenedherdecisiontoexplorehome

schoolingforthefall.She’sintheplanningstages,

browsingFacebookgroupsandtalkingwithvet-

eranhome-schoolingparentsinD.C.,Maryland,

andVirginia.“Idothinkthereshouldbemoresup-

portforparentsthatarechoosingtokeeptheirkids

home,”shesays.Becausesomeofthelearningapps

thatDistrictofColumbiaPublicSchoolsusedduring

thespringaren’tavailableduringthesummer,she

says,“Ihadtopayout-of-pocketforthem.”

Home-schoolingfamiliesreceivevirtuallynoth-

ingfromthefederalgovernment,andsomedon’t

wantanypublicfunding,seeingit asopeningthe

doortogovernmentinterference.Butconserva-

tivesinCongresshavebeentryingtochangethat.

Now,withHouseDemocratsandeducationgroups

clamoringforatleast$250billionineducationstim-

ulusfunding,Republicanshavetheirbestshotin

yearstopushthroughnewschoolchoiceprograms.

TrumpandDeVossupportthepassageofEducation

FreedomScholarships,a $5billionannualtaxcredit

forindividualsandbusinesseswhodonatetoorga-

nizationsthatsupportprivate-schooltuitionor

home-schoolexpenses.Eighteenstateshavetax

creditscholarshipprograms,althoughaccordingto

EdChoice,NewHampshire’sis theonlyoneinwhich

home-schoolstudentsareeligibleforfunds.

RepublicanSenatorTedCruzofTexas,whointro-

ducedtheEducationFreedomScholarshipslegis-

lationin2019,alsointroducedtheHelpingParents

EducateChildrenDuringtheCoronavirusPandemic

ActinJune.Thebill,whichhehopestoincludein

thenextroundofstimulus,wouldallowparentsto

use 529 collegesavingsplanstocoverK-12expenses

suchastutoring,testfees,andprivate-school tuition.

It’s not clear whether Democrats will bite.

Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro,

chair of the House Education Appropriations

Subcommittee, said that with only weeks until the

start of the new academic year, “the administra-

tion and Secretary DeVos remain fixated on how it

can siphon away resources for vouchers and other

privatization schemes” instead of plugging public

schools’ funding gaps.

Many school districts are scrambling to figure out

how to keep students enrolled, at least in their vir-

tual options, to avoid steep drops in per-pupil fund-

ing on top of additional budget cuts as states face

a financial crisis. Randi Weingarten, president of

the American Federation of Teachers, has urged

Congress to reject “failed ‘choice’ schemes” in any

future stimulus package. Her national teachers’

union has fought aggressively against past attempts

to expand federal funding for favored school choice

options such as charter and private schools, and

▼ U.S. poll respondents

with significant trust in

public schools

1973 2019

60%

40

20

“I do think

there should

be more

support for

parents that

are choosing

to keep their

kids home”