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Texas homeschool parents align with public education advocates to battle school choice legislation

Trace Thomas
/
Texas Tribune

Some rural homeschool parents have suddenly found themselves making unlikely alliances with public school unions in Texas,reports The Texas Tribune.

Many homeschool advocates have traditionally been staunch conservatives. But now some are lining up against former allies like Senator Ted Cruz, to battle a “private school choice” bill that could pass this Texas legislative session.

SB 3 would give money to private citizens, to put toward homeschooling or the school of their choosing. But a grassroots group called Texans for Homeschool Freedom is organizing a massive resistance to the measure.

The group fears the law could open the door to regulation of their lessons and textbooks. Homeschool families in Texas have long been subjected to very little regulation, and they want to keep it that way.

“If it's state-funded and state-approved materials, it's not homeschooling,” said, Nicki Truesdell, the group’s leader.