Posted on Friday, April 4, 2025
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by Outside Contributor
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Good neighbors help each other. They check in during tough times, shovel snow, and lend tools. However, parents can go to jail if families team up for homeschooling in Wisconsin.
The state flatly prohibits homeschool collaboration. Joining an after-school soccer team or Girl Scout troop is fine. However, parents cross the line if they teach reading, writing, or arithmetic to someone else’s child. The law is clear: “An instructional program provided to more than one family unit does not constitute a home-based private education program.”
Similar laws exist elsewhere. North Carolina homeschool groups cannot include children from more than two families. Parents in New York “may arrange to have their children instructed in a group situation for particular subjects,” but not more than half the time. In Iowa, homeschool groups may not include more than four unrelated children.
Vermont enforces limits on teamwork, but parents need a flow chart to figure out the law. The state defines a home-study program as something offered to children from one family plus others “not residing in that home who either are two or fewer in number or who are from one family.”
Try saying that three times fast.
The most likely interpretation is that two Vermont families may collaborate no matter how many children they have. However, if three Vermont families work together, at least two must be limited to one child each.
Maryland and North Dakota also have confusing laws. Parents who want to join forces must be careful, or they could be guilty of a misdemeanor. Penalties in Wisconsin include a $500 fine and up to 30 days behind bars.
Families with resources do not have to worry. They can pay private school tuition or buy houses in expensive neighborhoods near high-performing public schools. If they prefer home education, they can hire tutors for each subject.
Regular folks cannot afford these options. They must take whatever the government offers or go it alone. COVID-19 lockdowns pushed many families to take the leap. They saw the low quality of virtual instruction and grew desperate.
The result was an innovation frenzy. Some families pooled their resources and hired outside instructors. Other groups rotated teaching duties among themselves or designated host parents. Hybrid models also emerged.
When the pandemic ended, many parents realized they liked these arrangements and kept them going. Today, 1.5 million U.S. students — 3 percent of school-age children — participate in nontraditional collaborative learning groups.
Some call these homeschool co-ops “learning pods” or “microschools.”
Definitions overlap and vary. Parents focus more on learning than labels. In states that restrict collaboration, the details matter.
If regulators find an unauthorized learning community, they can define it as a private school — no matter how small it is — and crush it with a long list of bureaucratic demands piled on top of zoning restrictions already onerous.
Private schools spend significant money to navigate these hurdles, while smaller groups meeting in a home, church, or other facility have no chance. Teacher unions like it this way. They see anything that diverts resources from their $857 billion public school monopoly as a threat.
The Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teachers’ union, did its part by opposing a 2021 measure that would have legalized microschooling for up to 20 students from five families.
The union did not try to hide its main concern: Public schools “would lose per-pupil state funding for students who leave to attend microschools.” When Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the measure, union officials cheered. What they never mentioned was the Constitution.
Two landmark Supreme Court cases, Pierce v. Society of Sisters from 1925 and Meyer v. Nebraska from 1923, recognize parents’ right to direct the upbringing and education of their children.
The Institute for Justice stands ready to defend this right with free legal services. Yet, litigation should not be necessary. Public schools struggle with learning loss and could use grassroots competition to spur innovation. Florida, Georgia, and Utah already have microschool laws to close the gap.
Other states should get on board. Everyone wins when neighbors help neighbors.
Daryl James is a writer at the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Va.
Keith Neely is an attorney at the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Va.
Reprinted with Permission from DC Journal – By Daryl James & Keith Neely
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Read the full article here