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Home school families were the original school choice advocates, long before the term entered the political lexicon. Montanans have long recognized that parents possess a fundamental right and bear the primary responsibility to direct the education of their children, a right that exists independent of government permission. For generations, Montana families have exercised this authority faithfully, which is why home education has grown, flourished, and endured, grounded in parental judgment, accountability, and respect for the unique needs of each child.

We support school choice in its many forms. Expanding educational options strengthens families, encourages innovation, and recognizes a simple truth: no single system works for every child. School choice requires honest conversations about the constitutional boundaries, especially when taxpayer dollars are involved.

Montana government budgeting and spending circumstances are quite unique. While some state constitutions broadly authorize education funding, Montana’s Constitution is specific, requiring ‘strict accountability’ for all public revenues and expenditures. That commitment to transparency and stewardship is important. It creates a strong likelihood, or at least a very real potential, that public funding mechanisms, including refundable tax credits, will carry conditions, oversight, and expanded regulatory authority. This translates to potential future regulation and administrative overreach that Montana home educators have fought against for decades.

Acknowledging this reality is not opposition to school choice. It is simply an effort to protect long-standing parental freedoms and ensure they are not unintentionally traded away by tying them to public funding structures that may later invite new regulations.

Montana’s home school community understands the importance of this clarity, because it was earned through decades of sacrifice, ‘blood, sweat, and tears’. Although home education was acknowledged in Montana law as early as 1895 and 1903, confusion followed a 1971 school re-codification. In 1980, an Attorney General opinion asserted that home education had been eliminated, forcing families to go to court simply to defend their right to educate their children. Shortly thereafter, Montanans adopted the 1972 Constitution.

In response, parents and advocates secured passage of SB 445 in 1983, Montana’s foundational school choice law. It passed unanimously in the Senate, overwhelmingly in the House, and was signed by Governor Ted Schwinden. That new law reaffirmed a core principle: parents, not the state, hold the primary responsibility for a child’s education.

Even after that victory, families remained vigilant. In 1991, they supported SB 287, now codified as 20-5-111 MCA, affirming that parents are solely responsible for their home school’s philosophy, curriculum, instruction, and evaluation – principles that continue to guide home education in Montana today.

For decades, Montana’s school choice law remained unchanged. But in the 2025 session, HB 778 was sponsored by Rep. Randyn Gregg. This bill provided an important and positive change by separating the previously intertwined definitions of “home education” and “nonpublic education” in 20-5-109 MCA. The goal was to provide a clear distinction between the two venues of educational options. Clear statutory definitions protect freedom, transparency, and parental authority on both sides.

Over the years, proposals have emerged to extend public funding or refundable tax credits to home education. While often motivated by a sincere desire to expand opportunity, Montana’s home school families have consistently opposed those bills. In a state with strict constitutional accountability requirements, public dollars carry a strong likelihood, if not the potential, of increased oversight and regulatory authority. Such concerns are not born out of irrational fear but rather lessons wrought out by the long arc of history that such changes can and will be weaponized against the Montana homeschool community by subsequent unfriendly future administrations.

Let us be clear: Nothing in this nuanced discussion forecloses future policy innovation, but carefully worded and specific alignment with Montana’s Constitution, 20-5-111 MCA, and long-standing parental protections must be taken into consideration.

Montana homeschool families have demonstrated success for generations. Our shared goal is simple and enduring: protect parental choice, expand opportunity, and ensure that the home school freedoms Montanan families have worked hard to secure are not regulated away in the future.

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