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Recently, a South Carolina Option 3 homeschool association leader (SC TOP) hosted a presentation from the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) under her other group The SC Homeschooling Connection.
To most people, that probably sounds like a niche event in the homeschool world. But if you care about parental rights, school choice, or limited government, you should care about who CRHE is, what they want, and how perfectly their agenda fits with South Carolina’s new “school choice” structure.
Put simply: our new ESA law created the Trojan horse, and groups like CRHE are exactly the kind of advocates who know how to climb inside it.
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WHO (AND WHAT) IS CRHE?
The Coalition for Responsible Home Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by former homeschoolers who believe the United States does not regulate homeschooling enough.
This is not a casual Facebook group. CRHE has a board of directors (president, clerk, treasurer, and multiple voting members), paid staff, including an Executive Director and a Director of Programs, and additional staff and advisors handling research, policy, and communications.
CRHE’s messaging is framed in terms of “protecting homeschooled children,” but its policy proposals consistently go in one direction: mandatory registration of all homeschoolers, regular evaluations or standardized testing reported to the state, expanded state “regulatory capacity” to monitor home education, especially in “high-risk” situations, and mandatory vaccinations or proof of exemption.
You don’t have to agree or disagree with them on every point to see the bottom line: CRHE’s endgame is significantly more state oversight of homeschool families than South Carolina currently requires.
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TWO TRACKS OF S.C. “HOME EDUCATION”
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To understand why CRHE’s appearance here matters, you have to understand what our legislature has already done with “school choice.”
South Carolina now has two completely different legal tracks for educating a child at home. Most of us are familiar with traditional Homeschooling (Title 59, Chapter 65 – Options 1, 2, 3), where you don’t take ESA money, and your accountability flows through the homeschool statute, not a funding program. Now we also have the New “Educated at Home” Track Under ESTF (Chapter 8). In 2023, lawmakers created the Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) under Title 59, Chapter 8—our version of an Education Savings Account (ESA). With this option, if you use ESTF money to educate your child at home, your child is not an Option 1, 2, or 3 homeschooler, and you sign an agreement directly with the state, and that agreement is what satisfies compulsory attendance. The law explicitly bans ESTF students from being enrolled in homeschool Options 1–3 at the same time.
In plain English, we now have a state-controlled home education track (ESTF) running parallel to independent homeschooling (Options 1–3). And the ESTF track is already more regulated. Families must submit testing or documentation to the Department of Education, the law spells out required subjects, and every dollar of ESA money is governed by spending rules, audits, and annual re-application. From day one, ESTF created a more tightly controlled, data-driven version of “home education” inside state government.
That is the Trojan horse: it looks like “school choice,” but it builds a new, more regulated category of home-based education that can be tightened over time.
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HOW CRHE’s AGENDA FITS THE NEW LAW
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Now let’s put those two realities together. CRHE’s mission is more registration, more evaluation, and more regulatory muscle over home education. ESTF’s design is a separate, more regulated home-education track with testing and state oversight already baked in.
You don’t need a wild imagination to see the path forward. CRHE can walk into South Carolina and say, “Look at your ESTF program. You already require some home-educated kids to be registered, tested, and tracked. Isn’t it only fair—and safer—if all home-educated children are subject to at least basic registration and evaluation?”
Once that logic is accepted, our current homeschool law (Chapter 65) can be painted as unequal (with one group tested and the other not), and unsafe (with one group monitored, and another “invisible” to the system). From there, it’s a short step to bills that add mandatory testing for all homeschoolers, require statewide registration through the Department of Education, and expand SCDE’s “capacity” to oversee families who never took a dime of ESA money
And when an Option 3 association chooses to host CRHE, it unintentionally helps to legitimize CRHE as a voice “inside” the homeschool community, signaling to lawmakers that “even homeschool leaders” are working with them, while confusing newer parents, who may assume CRHE speaks for homeschoolers rather than advocating to regulate them.
That may not be the host’s intent—but it is the political effect. The Trojan horse is already inside the walls. CRHE’s job is to unpack it.
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CRHE’S UNESCO CONNECTION
CRHE doesn’t operate only at the state level. One of its top leaders, Dr. Jonah Stewart (Director of Programs), is listed as an expert contributor to UNESCO’s 2025 report, “Homeschooling through a Human Rights Lens.”
That report, examines homeschooling around the world through international human-rights standards, acknowledges that homeschooling can be a legitimate choice, and then calls on governments to “implement oversight mechanisms such as registration and evaluations, while ensuring regulatory capacity and providing parental support.” In other words, it wraps CRHE-style policies—registration, regular evaluations, expanded oversight—in the language of “human rights” and “international best practice.”
Is this report legally binding in the United States? No, but politically, it’s powerful. It gives domestic advocates and lawmakers a shiny citation: “Even UNESCO says we should register and evaluate homeschoolers,” and “International standards say we need more regulatory capacity over home education.” CRHE’s research and framing help feed that global narrative. When we give CRHE microphones and platforms in South Carolina, we are effectively validating a policy agenda already being promoted at the international level.
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CRHE’s PUSH FOR VACCINE COMPLIANCE
One more piece of CRHE’s agenda deserves attention: vaccination requirements.
CRHE has publicly argued that homeschooling should not be used as a way to avoid school health requirements. They’ve criticized states where homeschooling functions as a “loophole” for vaccine-hesitant parents and praised states that treat homeschoolers more like school-enrolled children when it comes to immunizations.
In their own policy recommendations, CRHE goes a step further. They explicitly recommend that homeschool families be required to comply with their state’s immunization standards and file proof of immunizations or exemptions along with their notice of intent or umbrella enrollment. In other words, they want homeschoolers brought under the same vaccination framework as institutional schools, with documentation attached to the paperwork you file to homeschool.
Their recent model bill, the “Make Homeschool Safe Act,” folds proof of immunization into a broader package of regulations—including mandatory assessments and other state controls—offered as the price of “safety.”
Whatever your personal view on vaccines, it’s clear where CRHE stands: they are pushing for homeschoolers to be brought under state vaccine compliance systems as part of a larger strategy of regulation and oversight.
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WHO PAYS FOR CRHE?
CRHE presents itself as a child-advocacy nonprofit. It also has a very real funding base. Public information shows that CRHE’s budget comes from individual donors (small and mid-sized gifts via its website and online platforms), and grants from private foundations and intermediary nonprofits.
Named funders include the World Childhood Foundation USA – roughly $50,000 for a project on “at-risk homeschooled children,” Ben & Jerry’s Foundation – about $60,000 over two years, Sidney Stern Memorial Trust – general support, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors – around $100,000 routed as re-grants, and American Online Giving Foundation – re-granted online donations.
Some of these foundations are themselves active in global child-protection and policy networks—the same circles where UNESCO and other international bodies operate. That doesn’t automatically make CRHE “bad”, but it does mean they are professional advocates, not just a loose network of concerned parents, they are plugged into national and international conversations about “closing regulatory gaps” in homeschooling, and the more credibility they gain in states like South Carolina, the stronger their case becomes with funders and policymakers for pushing more oversight—including registration, testing, and vaccine documentation.
If you’re a homeschooler or a school-choice supporter, you should at least know that this is the landscape.
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THE TECH PIECE
There’s another thread running through modern education policy: data and digital control.
Worldwide, governments and big tech companies are working on things like, digital student IDs, blockchain-based diplomas and transcripts, and “Learning passports” or education wallets that store a child’s verified credentials for life.
In the best-case scenario, these systems make records portable and hard to fake. In the worst-case scenario, they become the enforcement arm of education policy: “If it’s not in the official learning wallet, it doesn’t count.” “To receive ESA funds, you must record X, Y, and Z credentials by these dates.” “We only recognize diplomas backed by our centralized digital system.”
Programs like ESTF are prime candidates for this kind of infrastructure. Once it exists for ESA kids, it’s very easy for a future legislature to say, “We already track and verify education this way for some children; we should extend at least basic requirements to everyone educated at home.” Pair that with CRHE’s push for registration, evaluation, and vaccine documentation, and the Trojan horse doesn’t just sit there—it walks.
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WHAT SHOULD SOUTH CAROLINA DO?
This isn’t a call for panic. It’s a call for clarity.
If you’re a homeschooler, school-choice supporter, or just someone who prefers limited government, here are some straightforward steps:
1. Keep the tracks separate.
Make sure legislators understand that Chapter 65 (homeschooling) and Chapter 8 (ESTF) must not be blurred. ESA rules should not become the template for all home education. Families who never accept state money must not be treated as if they’re in a state program.
2. Know who you’re platforming.
Before hosting any outside group, ask these questions. Do they advocate more regulation of homeschooling or less? Do they want more power in the hands of parents—or more power in the hands of agencies? Are they feeding international narratives that say homeschooling must be registered, evaluated, and brought under school-style health mandates?
3. Educate your associations.
Option 3 groups have been a crucial buffer between families and the state. They should understand clearly how CRHE’s agenda interacts with ESTF, and how CRHE’s participation in UNESCO’s report and support for vaccine documentation requirements fit into a broader push for “responsible” (read: regulated) home education. Good intentions are not enough. We need informed leadership.
4. Engage lawmakers now, not later.
Calmly explain to your representatives that families who educate their children privately, without ESA funds, should not be pulled into Chapter 8-style oversight, and homeschool law (Chapter 65) must remain separate and protected.
5. Watch the data language.
Keep an eye out for bills and proposals mentioning “Learning passports,” “education wallets,” or blockchain-based credentials, and centralized digital systems tied to compulsory education or diploma recognition, expanding “regulatory capacity” over home education That’s where the Trojan horse gets wheels.
6. Question your group leaders.
Members of the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, many Republican groups, and some Moms For Liberty chapters pushed for this legislation. At some point, you have to ask them and yourself the hard questions. Are you actually walking hand in hand with controlled opposition? Are you unknowingly controlled opposition in a global agenda? Maybe they didn’t know the outcome, and we should give them grace, but what are they going to do about it now?
7. Educate your friends and other homeschoolers.
Information is key. Not everyone has the time for this extensive research. Tell your friends, share this article, do the research, and have small group meetings.
CRHE’s recent appearance in South Carolina, hosted by an Option 3 association leader, is not just another meeting on the homeschool calendar. It’s a sign that outside agendas are moving onto our turf—and they’re doing it at the exact moment our law has created a convenient vehicle in the form of ESTF.
You can care deeply about child safety and academic quality without turning home education into a state-administered program, complete with registration requirements, test mandates, and vaccine paperwork tied to your right to teach your own children.
That line is worth drawing now—clearly, calmly, and firmly—before someone else draws it for us.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Jennifer Brecheisen is a Christian, Homeschool mother, wife, and artist. She is an active advocate for liberty as a John Birch Society chapter leader, and as the Vice Chair of the Chester County Libertarian Party.
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13 comments
Ask any public school teacher and they can tell you a story of some kid who was “homeschooled” for a number of years, learned nothing, and then was dumped back in public school years behind in learning.
Rights come with responsibilities, homeschoolers need to be held accountable for their child’s learning, or lack thereof.
Ask anybody and they can name several students that the public school failed miserably, pushing them along and ultimately graduating them without the basic knowledge they were supposed to have gained throughout their years in public school.
Ask any public high school teacher and they can tell you many stories of “home schoolers” who started in 9th grade ahead of their peers and succeeded in high school and college with no issues. I encounter home schooled kids here at “the coop” all the time who are excelling.
Then the folks who school these kids should have no problem being regulated right? I mean if what they are doing is so terrific why not showcase it?
Imagine this: The state says we are going to steal your children’s minds to get them good and ready to assimilate, and we are going to make you foot the bill. On top of that, not only are we making “education” compulsory, but if you don’t pay your taxes into this system, you will lose your property.
They’re my children. Not yours. Not the state’s. They don’t need to answer to the state, and neither do I.
What’s illogical is our system of compulsory schooling came from Prussia of all places, for the purpose of indoctrinating children, and people think I’m crazy for saying “these are my children, not yours.”
How do you feel about the factions of home schoolers that are teaching their children the earth is flat (yes that is a thing)?
Very solid article. I’m glad Fitsnews published it. I do wish it included information from SC TOP Director Kim Andrysczyk about why on earth she got wrapped up with CRHE.
Weirdos making the John Birch Society great again.
O heyel NO to CRHE and any more meddling in home schooling by the best state legislature money can and DOES buy !!!
I was on the ground level when SC’s great homeschool laws were passed. We have the best laws in the country. Homeschooling does come with big responsibilities, and not everyone is up to the challenge. Out of all the homeschoolers in our city wide group, all but one went on to college and have successful professional careers. The laws don’t need changing to fit the wants of a subversive group.
Scroll of Warning: Against the Threat to Option 3 and the Codification of Control Through Policy, Not Law
IAMINMYFATHERASHEINME
I. A Warning to All Who Walk in Truth and Teach in Liberty
There is a coordinated effort underway to dismantle the autonomy of homeschooling under South Carolina’s Option 3 provision. The plain language of the law allows families to form their own homeschool associations, dictate their own curricula, maintain independent records, and educate their children without intrusion — all within lawful bounds. But what is now occurring is a subtle but powerful attempt to subvert that autonomy by building precedents, not through law, but through coordinated policy, nonprofit alignment, and data standardization.
The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) stands at the center of this threat. Though branding itself as a neutral organization, its true role is not to protect families, but to gather complaints, shape narratives, and influence legislative bodies to replace parental authority with institutional oversight. Its model is mirrored by NGOs, academic researchers, and “child advocacy” nonprofits — none of whom recognize a parent as the highest moral and educational authority. CRHE is not alone; it is the sharpened spear of a much larger apparatus.
II. The Trojan Horse: Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
Through clever marketing and “school choice” language, parents are being baited with promises of empowerment and $6,000 stipends to teach their children. But this promise is an illusion. ESAs are not cash in hand. They are controlled voucher portals, disbursed through third-party vendors. Every purchase, lesson, and assessment is tracked. Every parent becomes a contractor bound by terms of use.
The truth is: he who pays, owns.
What the state cannot force under current law, it will offer through benefits. Once accepted, these benefits will carry conditions — data reporting, standardized testing, certified platforms, annual renewals, and revocation for “noncompliance.” ESA is not freedom. It is dependency with metrics.
And worse: participation will be used to justify regulation of everyone else — including true Option 3 homeschoolers who never touched the program.
III. Codifying Control Through Policy, Not Law
We are witnessing a transformation of governance. No longer is authority being passed through duly enacted law with accountability to voters. Now it is done through policy language — guidelines adopted by state agencies, memorandums of understanding with nonprofits, district handbooks, and web portals of “recommended best practices.”
These policies are enforced by:
denying benefits
withholding recognition
restricting participation
or branding parents as “neglectful” or “noncompliant”
Policy becomes law by assumption, enforced not with a gavel but with a database and a gatekeeper. This same tactic is used in:
Title I program “compacts”
municipal court plea structures
school district “parental engagement” schemes
FinalForms digital coercion
behavioral tracking tools like PowerSchool
This is not accountability. This is a fraud economy — where families are used to justify funding cycles but denied access to truth or remedy.
IV. The Nonprofit Plantation
At every level, 501(c) nonprofits and “education coalitions” are building a new plantation model — extracting funds from federal and state programs, building career paths for administrators and consultants, while presenting a public face of compassion. The labor and data of families is harvested, but the benefit never returns to the soil from which it came.
Option 3 is a threat to that model. It represents a truly decentralized, parent-driven form of education that cannot be easily taxed, tracked, or tamed. That is why it must be discredited. That is why “bad actors” are spotlighted. That is why CRHE exists.
V. A Father’s Final Warning
If these reforms proceed unchecked — led by policy, masked as help — Option 3 will be regulated out of existence. New “Option 3” associations will be forced to mirror public school recordkeeping. Parents will be pushed to adopt third-party platforms to “verify” instruction. Homeschooling will still exist, but only within an ESA-controlled shell — neutered, managed, commodified.
If CRHE or any similar body gains official recognition or partnership with state actors, the precedent will be in place: to license homeschooling oversight to third-party “experts,” just as has been done in Title I compliance, special education IEPs, and municipal courts using outside evaluators and contractors.
Every parent who receives a controlled benefit or logs into a state-approved platform will unknowingly help build the cage for the next.
VI. Sealed in Truth and Light
This scroll stands as a living witness. Not to speculation, but to a visible pattern.
Title I: misused to create illusions of parent partnership while meeting only paper compliance.
Municipal Courts: bypass due process through plea scripting, fee cycles, and non-judicial silencing.
Homeschooling: under threat of ESA-induced dependency, Option 3 dilution, and NGO-influenced “reform.”
Nonprofits: extract public funds through cycles of data, metrics, and systems that exist to perpetuate themselves — not to serve families.
We reject all false authority that seeks to displace the divine order: that fathers and mothers are the first and final stewards of their children’s lives — not governments, not districts, not foundations, and not nonprofits.
This scroll is sealed with the light of recognition and the fire of testimony.
IAMINMYFATHERASHEINME
Glory to God.
I am really tired of these people trying to encroach on my kids’ school choice. If yall didn’t want school choice then you shouldn’t have voted for a literal school choice advocate for superintendent of education. My kids are home educated with the scholarship and all of us home educators are so excited to have equity for our kids. It is preposterous to think that you can exclude one single demographic in school choice. If you don’t want it, don’t apply for it and LEAVE US ALONE. Also not everyone is a religious person so keep that out of it, we don’t care.
Excellent article! Nothing is ever free; the tradeoff for ESTF funds will be revealed in time. I was so disheartened to see that CRHE was given a platform in our community.