Politics in NH are interesting, as I’m sure anyone who is paying attention would agree. Hot topics, promises, and clever lies abound.
I’d be seriously slacking in my role as a Homeschool Advocate if I didn’t take the time to touch on the hot topic that has plagued our community for a number of years and become a front-and-center key platform push for politicians in our state.
Let me preface my statements here by sharing that these are my own thoughts and opinions, based on years and years of experience, advocacy and work as a freedom-minded home educator in NH and Southern Maine. If you want a list of “who I think I am” you could easily find it outside of this blog post, but since people have asked I’ll touch on that, too.
What it comes down to is that I am a mouthpiece for the home education community and have been for some time. I feel comfortable making the blanket statement that the politicians, families and organizations I’m addressing here are made up of some good, well-intentioned folks, but also hope to convey that the elephant in the room is quite huge. There are politicians, families and organizations who are *not* and are benefiting financially and/or politically off of our misplaced trust and misinformation.
That last bit hurts some feelings, but I’ve never been one to mince words when it comes to the topic of home education freedom.
The EFA program is bad for NH home education.
There it is, friends! I’ve been everywhere from gracious, slow to speak, heavy on nuance to blunt and some have said downright aggressive on this topic, and it’s time to cut the coddling and tell you what I know.
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Myth #1: The EFA program is good for NH.
Truth: The EFA bill was rammed through our legislature because it couldn’t (rightly so) pass a straight vote. It was pitched as a way for less than one dozen, *low-income, urban* students to escape public school. The bill was sloppy, with no accountability for taxpayers, families, or the government. Those of us who follow the legislature have seen firsthand the hyper-partisan climate and the resulting onslaught of bills attempting to kill it from within. Families have been marketed and lied to regarding the implications of the program, and I have consistently, transparently shared the short and long-term devastation this program causes for home education in NH. None of this is good for our community.
Myth #2: It’s Your Tax Money Anyway, It’s “The Money Follows the Child.”
Truth: Anyone can easily and effectively debunk this often-repeated marketing tagline by simply looking at their tax bill. It’s not your tax money; it’s everyone’s tax money. The small fraction of money that one pays that actually ends up funding this program is minuscule in comparison to the award amounts and managing organization’s outrageous fees.
Those folks who believe that “taxation is theft” have been the most surprising in their enthusiastic support of this program, so much so that “school choice” has become part of the Free State Project platform. If taxation is theft, why are you just fine with everyone else paying for your kid’s pottery wheel and Jiu-Jitsu lessons? I surely don’t know. It’s not your money.
The fact that the majority of EFA families pay for private school tuition with the funds should alarm those of us who understand that the government runs what the government funds, but I guess that’s outside the scope of this article.
Myth #3: I’m still a homeschooler if I sign up for the EFA program.
Truth: Legally, the EFA pathway is a fourth, completely separate educational status according to the state. It is governed by a different and distinct set of laws than home education. EFA (government) funds can be used for a number of (government) approved vendors.
Although the EFA legislation was modeled after home education law, it is not the same. The long-fought, ongoing battle for parental rights, minimal requirements and freedom of choice in enrichment programs, curriculum, and other educational services is the result of persistent advocacy over decades.
Functionally, EFA families might choose to homeschool their children. EFA families might look similar in many ways to home educators, but they are not the same. There are yearly deadlines, databases and approvals needed in the EFA program. EFA families do not have graduation requirements Equal Access, or *the right to utilize whatever/whoever/whenever* they want to educate their children without purchase approval from outside agencies. This is not the same as RSA193:a home education. Can you call yourself a homeschooler? Sure, we can call ourselves whatever we choose, I’m convinced of that. But the fact remains that I have personally spent countless hours supporting freedom from these differences. I will not get caught up in semantics.
Myth #4: “It’s no big deal to take the money/Amanda, you’re just a rich, entitled person who doesn’t understand how this has changed My life!”
Truth: It is actually a big deal to take government money. Listen, I’ve been doing this a long time and have seen the culture shift in the home education community after COVID from that of home-grown, grassroots, connections-driven to “provide “x” for me, and if it gets hard, I’ll just send them to school mentality.
Parents are leaving public school in droves and expecting the same government-implemented supports, programs, freebies and resources. The “lifers” are fewer and those of us on the front lines to advocate are but a handful.
I’m old, I get it, but I have four children, one income, and a special needs child, and I have sacrificed untold hours and resources to home-educate my children over 17 years, and I have a lifetime left. I create, innovate, show up, support, and rally for our community. I, too, have exclusively shopped in the free section. I have had to say, “I’m sorry, but we can’t afford that price,” more often than not, so I figure out alternatives. The alternatives take a lot of sacrifices of time and energy- yet I’m beholden to only my family. I have spent hours driving all over the state, online consulting and volunteering in order to encourage the free market education community.
I have bartered, sat in countless meetings and legislative sessions, served on HEAC, and showed up at my local school board to fight for the home education community. I did it, and you can, too, *without working against the freedom to home-educate in NH.* I still do it, and I’m doing it right now. My youngest child cannot take the martial arts class that he desperately desires, yet the very first thing the Sensei said to me as I tried to barter my services for a discount was, “Just sign up for that Class Wallet; it would be free!” It wouldn’t be free, Sensei.
Your short-term ability to do extras or buy a brand new curriculum does not outweigh our freedom.
The long-term implications are clear, as in other states with similar programs: more government oversight, more laws passed, more narrow definitions and allowances, and more regulation. Accepting government money might change your life in seemingly positive ways right now, but it is devastating to our collective lives for these reasons now and in the not-so-distant future. This is a big deal, and I guess I do know precisely “who I think I am.” (my snark here is directed at the hate mail I receive from people who do not know me in real life at all)
Myth #5: A (any) managing organization’s administrator/vendor/politician is trustworthy.
Truth: There is an extreme conflict of interest happening with the EFA managing organization/vendors/politicians, the taxpayers, and the families involved. The managing organization makes a *whopping* 10% of all of the money that goes out the door. Look up how much similar program administrators get in other states for yourself – max 3 to 4 percent. The organization also manages the education tax credit, which is a true scholarship that needs to be fundraised from local businesses. The managing organization marketed directly to the ETC recipients to sign up for the EFA program, insisting that “there’s no difference” between the two programs. Both are income-based, but the similarities end there. The Administrator of the EFA program helped craft the legislation, markets the program at political events all across our state, and lies by omission during presentations by repeatedly focusing on emotional pitches instead of the facts.
I know families who feel “swindled” and “lied to” because the implications were never shared – “I was never told it was a different pathway/I had to turn things in/I’d be in a database/ I had to terminate my home education program.”
The EFA program has become a self-contained market where educational providers are racing to grab the cash. Scandals and closures are ramping up in NH and other states due to mismanagement. The “educational innovation” that is touted as the future is all based on families signing up for the EFA. Providers can (and do) charge exorbitant fees for their services *because they can* and freely market the EFA as the way to enroll. This is currently happening with Kaipod and Prenda. Can’t afford the thousands of dollars after the federal grant ends in September? Just sign up for the EFA! This is literally what I was told in person. These vendors are at the same info sessions and political events. At least one high-ranking politician, who is front and center of the EFA push in NH, benefits financially (personally) from the EFA-driven “learning co-op” that his wife directs. Let this sink in, folks. ***A leader in the legislature benefits financially from the expansion of the program.*** I’m not sure how this giant red flag has gotten a pass, but these obvious conflicts of interest have not gone unnoticed by the other side of the aisle or any of us who are paying attention.
Is it any wonder why the legislature has been absolutely swamped with targeted bills looking to control the program? To control everything from what is purchased, who purchases it, assessments, data, you name it. And as the title of this post states, it’s election season. I don’t care what side of the aisle one lands on; this is all incredibly murky at best, and if the (very partisan/close split) legislature, Governor, or Commissioner of Education changes, EFA families are all at risk. In mid-June, the vote to expand the program failed. If the Republicans lose any of these branches of government, “mean” blog posts are going to be the least of EFA families’ worries.
The managing organization and the Commissioner are both on record refusing the required audits of the EFA program, and a local State Rep said to me, “’someone‘ would rather close the program than share that information.” I hear, “they won’t let that happen,” when anyone questions anything that is troublesome on the horizon. It’s been happening for a number of years now. Is it a red flag that they refuse to share the required information for the required audits by the Committee tasked with overseeing the program? I’d say it is.
Myth #6: You need the EFA program to provide an excellent, tailored, engaging home education program for your children.
Truth: You don’t need government money, the strings attached, or the implications involved in signing up for the EFA program. There are countless ways to frugally curate your home education program. Coordinate, lead, barter, connect, pay it forward, sacrifice. Pioneers who came before us did it and we can, too. *Get involved and educate others on the value of the true freedom of home education!*
All this to say, don’t take their word for it. Heck, don’t take *my* word for it! Everything I have said here is publicly available information for those willing to uncover it. As with any election season, please consider your votes wisely. The Republican party is fully immersed in using the EFA program to help them get elected. The Democrats are fully immersed in using (killing) the EFA program to help get elected. Since none of them will actually admit any of this, all the more reason to get involved.