I have been away and I said I would leave this alone but....when idealistic terms "right" and "privilege" get slung around with public schools, I cannot. Our tax-funded, educational welfare system or government school system or public school system, whatever if you prefer, exists because compulsory attendance laws have made it a default method to educate the masses. Compulsory attendance laws do not make it a right to be educated. Although we have inalienable rights that are not all listed, don't you think it odd that education as a right, as important as education would be even to our forefathers, was not even specifically mentioned in the Bill of Rights? Further, education cannot be ensured just because one attends a school. Compulsory attendance laws do not make it a privilege to be educated, because it is not granted to people, instead attendance is a requirement by law. By law, I have the right to travel, but that does not mean I have the right to drive. I am required by the state to first be granted its permission (a license) before I can drive, but after having been granted the privilege to drive that does not mean I am required to drive or even that I can because I would need a vehicle so I can still lack the opportunity to drive. What compulsory attendance laws can do is require parents to send their children to a public education institution to ensure that every child has the opportunity to attend a public education institution...and that's all! In my home, education itself is not a right nor a privilege nor is it about just showing up for class, it is just a requirement...period. I do not really know how to categorize education in government schools, but it certainly would not be under the terms of "right" or "privilege."
Add me to the "no we can't and I'm glad for it" crowd. Just imagine the government trying to determine what is and is not school supplies. What if I don't buy a clear cut curriculum but rely on living books? What about unschoolers? Do we want the govt to infringe on homeschooling and tell us what an education is? As for property taxes - my grandparents paid property taxes til they were, what 70?, and they didn't have small kids. Same for people without kids. So it's not just homeschoolers getting the raw end of the deal, although admittedly we double the cost.
