Please allow homeschool families to use their 529 education savings accounts toward educational expenses, up to $10,000 per child per year. This proposal does not ask for any involvement or money from the government, simply the ability to spend 529 funds on qualified educational expenses without penalty.
President Trump mentioned something similar during his campaign, and it was a surprising acknowledgement of homeschool families and a welcomed policy idea for some.
Homeschool families incur many costs which publicly-schooled families do not. Often this means providing children with additional classes, experiences and supplies while living on one income. The following are examples of homeschool expenses which should be covered under this policy, at a minimum:
-Curricula, textbooks, teaching aids and testing costs
-Tutoring for dyslexia and similar learning challenges
-Art classes and supplies
-Music instruction and insturment rental/purchase
-Foreign language instruction, in-person or online
-Phy-ed costs (homeschool sports or rec center use)
What expenses would the community like to see included, and what issues should be considered?
Maybe some other incentive for homeschooling … 529 is to offset higher education … unless you are teaching college from home general k-12 is already funded from the state, your child can go there for free
I’m usually fine with the thought of funding child education. But the more I think about it the less I am inclined to agree outright with this one. We already fund free public education. Education is a public good. Every child who wants one can get one. We need to stop living off future generations. So I would say if homeschoolers are added to the fund or given a yearly stipend, that subsidy or that stipend needs to come from equivalent cuts elsewhere. I would have said the same with private K-12.
@Onebigfam They are self funded but the reason to use it is the tax benefits. While indirect, anytime you aren’t paying taxes on eligible funds, it’s subsidized. And I know that just sounds like a drop in the bucket but I get the feeling our national debt was a plethora of small drops with decent handful of big ones.
And just for clarity, I know this in particular is not a stipend if that was confusing. I was referencing the $10,000 rumor that’s been floating around. But I didn’t make that clear.
Absolutely. Let’s get home schooling funded! The k-12 schools might be free, but they are also not teaching our kids. We need something better and this type of funding would put the parent in charge of their student’s education where it should be. Perhaps we can put the outdated k-12 “school” paradigm out of work when we create something better. That’s what I am hoping! That’s coming from a teacher of twenty plus years!! Every year we, many teachers, would try and fix it and every year they, Admin, Dept. of Education, new program personnel, EVEN THE STATE would keep us from it.
