Of Public Education, Politics and Homeschoolers

Kristin Maguire took her seat on the South Carolina Board of Education in 2000 after being elected by local legislators and was reappointed by the governor in 2004. She was voted chairwoman-elect in December, a position that likely would have not gained so much attention were it not for the fact that she homeschools her own children. State Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said of the election,

Having Kristin Maguire chair the State Board of Education is akin to Dick Cheney teaching a gun safety course. What does a woman who home schools her four children know about South Carolina public schools? aikenstandard.com

Criticism seems to be focused on a perceived inability of a homeschooler to “support public schools.” It was her commitment to her position on the Board, however, that seemed to draw support from those who nominated her above Trip Dubard, the man recommended by the Board’s nominating committee.

Board member Rick Adkins, of Anderson, said he voted for Maguire because she is so well prepared to discuss agenda items at the board’s monthly meetings. He credited her with successfully pushing the board to approve more stringent math standards that require third graders learn their multiplication tables to 12, rather than to nine. “That hit me personally,” said Adkins, the father of third-grade twins. “Her personal views and what she does with her children is her choice.” Ibid.

The selection of a homeschooling mother to lead the South Carolina Board of Education is interesting for more reasons than the discussion about what role homeschoolers should take with regards to public education. The first governor to appoint a homeschooler to a state Board of Education appears to have been Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a nomination which figures strongly into HSLDA-PAC’s endorsement of him as a presidential candidate.

Mike Huckabee, as governor, was the first to appoint a homeschooler to the Arkansas State Board of Education, and to our knowledge the first to do so in any state. He is adamantly opposed to the United Nations Convention on the Rigths of the Child and is committed to stopping the erosion of parental rights. He is pro-life. He supports traditional marriage. He believes that the Internal Revenue Service should be abolished and replaced with the Fair Tax–a move that we strongly support because it would greatly benefit homeschooling families. He believes and is willing to say that Islamic extremism needs to be understood as a theologically driven threat. He believes that our borders must be secured not only from illegal immigration but from the growing trend among American judges of “illegally importing” international law into our American judicial systems. HSLDAPAC.org

This endorsement has been received with both approval and consternation among homeschoolers. It drew homeschool advocate and popular blogger Karen Braun (Spunky) out of blogging retirement specifically to question Huckabee’s stance on education issues. The first in her series of postings looks at Arkansas’ “unique distinction of becoming the first state in the nation to add restrictions to its existing home school law,” as it is described by the HSLDA Court Report. One Mom, a homeschooling mother supporting Mike Huckabee, presents a “rest of the story” sort of post after a conference call with Huckabee in which she was able to ask him specifically about this law.

While the endorsement may be controversial among homeschoolers, even conservative Christian homeschoolers, it has been attributed to Huckabee’s rise in the polls from almost a complete unknown two months ago to the winner of the Iowa’s caucus. And this despite being outspent by former front-runner Mitt Romney who has spent three times Huckabee’s entire campaign budget thus far on television advertising alone.

Huckabee’s name is no longer a mystery to Iowa’s Republican voters, in large part because of an extensive network of home-schoolers like Roe who have helped lift his underfunded campaign from obscurity to the front of a crowded field. Opinion polls show that his haphazard approach is trumping the studied strategy of Mitt Romney, who invested millions only to be shunned by many religious conservatives such as Roe, who see the former Baptist preacher from Hope, Ark., as their champion. The Washington Post

While much of the reporting has presented a stereotyped view of homeschoolers, the ability of a few impassioned homeschoolers to affect Huckabee’s campaign so dramatically is a testament to their resourcefulness, creativity and organization.

Twin teenage boys from Oregon wrote a letter which got to Chuck Norris, prompting him to take a closer look at Huckabee and influencing his endorsement and the production of a successful campaign ad. Julie Roe, a homeschooling mother from Iowa launched her own campaign for Huckabee without the benefits of buttons, professional signage or glossy literature. Instead, she got out her paper and scissors as well as emails to her homeschooling group to craft her own campaign. While homeschoolers are far from unified on support for any candidate, the organization coming behind Huckabee is impressive.

“I would say it’s an informal network. It’s not a secret database somewhere we all go to,” said DeSaulniers, whose wife Diane teaches their children. “It’s regular, ongoing relationships.” Des Moine Register

It is the same kind of person-to-person, private organization that has helped liberalize homeschooling laws across the nation, protecting the rights of parents to direct the education of their children. It is this kind of grassroots activity that made Arkansas’ step backwards in homeschool freedom an anomaly in state politics, despite powerful and respected foes such as the National Education Association (pdf), the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Who ever could have guessed that placing a homeschooler on the Board of Education could have such far-reaching consequences?

Dana is a fourth year homeschooling mom to three girls and a boy. In her column, “Homeschool, In the News,” she will be taking a look at homeschoolers who have affected the news and news that affects homeschoolers. Visit her blog, Principled Discovery.