Education Freedom Demands Vigilance

“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance” is a motto that the homeschooling community has lived by for decades, fiercely defending their freedom to educate at home according to their deeply held values. It is one that school choice advocates embrace as well. 

While the education establishment has long opposed homeschooling and school choice policies, the new opposition rising in reaction to recent education freedom successes is far more radical and authoritarian. Groups like Coalition for Responsible Home Education and UNESCO in various reports including the recent paper Homeschooling Through A Human Rights Lens ferociously oppose school choice and advocate for close oversight and tracking of homeschoolers and increasing barriers such as mandatory registration, curriculum pre-approval, home visits, and mandatory exposure to diversity, equity and inclusion principles. 

Additionally, a new side of the school choice debate has come in recent years from within the education freedom movement itself: homeschoolers who are afraid that school choice programs providing support for options outside the government school system will lead to creeping government intrusion and heavy-handed regulation.  

These are valid concerns. As a mom who homeschooled my two sons for ten years, I’m deeply grateful for those who secured Montana homeschoolers’ exemption from compulsory education laws in 1983 and expanded those rights in the 1990s. I wanted the freedom to instill our Christian values in our children at a time when public schools increasingly seemed to undermine them, and with private school financially out of reach, we made the sacrifices necessary to home educate.

As with anything involving the government, the key to preserving our education liberty is constant vigilance.

At the Frontier Institute, we support well-designed school choice programs because we believe that parents, not the government, know best and should direct their children’s education. Our support of school choice is firmly planted in our guiding principles of limited government, self-reliance and maximum individual freedom. We have not and will NEVER support legislation that would diminish homeschool freedoms, especially poorly designed school choice proposals that risk government control creeping in. And we will always continue to support efforts like HB 778 from 2025 to safeguard homeschool freedom in law.

When properly structured, school choice programs can co-exist – and not infringe upon – homeschool protections. Frontier Institute supported HB 320, the Montana Academic Prosperity Program for Scholars Act (MAPPS), which aimed to establish Montana’s first truly universal school choice program. MAPPS had numerous safeguards built in to protect the autonomy of parents and education providers participating in the program, and to strictly limit government oversight. The bill also created a legal firewall to ensure homeschoolers, who would not choose to participate in MAPPS, would in no way be impacted. For these reasons, the HSLDA and Montana Coalition of Home Educators did not oppose MAPPS, but rather participated as informational witnesses.

As a seasoned homeschooling mom who cherishes my autonomy and freedom from onerous regulation and government intrusion, I was incredibly encouraged when I read HB 320: this bill masterfully covered all the areas where homeschool families have concerns. 

Participation in a school choice program like MAPPS is voluntary, just like homeschool is voluntary. I recognize that school choice programs might work great for a family like mine, but not be the right fit for every family. Families must always carefully consider all education options carefully to ensure it reflects their values and priorities.

Homeschoolers and school choice advocates share a common cause: keeping education decisions where they belong, with families, not bureaucrats. Whether the pressure comes from Helena or global organizations like UNESCO, we stand together to protect that freedom. 

The price of education freedom, like all liberty, is eternal vigilance, and Montana families are proving every day that it’s worth defending.