This quarter, Virginia State Sen. Stella Pekarsky, D-Fairfax, introduced a bill to the Virginia Senate to limit families ‘ access to childcare options.
A pupil in Virginia who is denied an exemption from a public or private school may have “bona genuine spiritual training or belief ] that is honestly opposed to attending school, according to SB1031, which is currently being considered in Virginia’s Senate. Additionally, the law requires that “bona genuine religious training or belief does not include primarily political, sociological, or philosophical viewpoints or simply a purely personal moral code.“
Virginia’s families are able to decide to homeschool their children, but Pekarsky’s proposed legislation narrows the opportunity. Now, preschool laws in Virginia only requires a notice of intent, no “bona genuine religious” objection to school attendance. And really, is it suitable for the state authorities to become assessing people ‘ sects as “bona genuine” or then?
Students Escaped Virginia’s Public Schools During Covid
Apart from its doubtful legal legitimacy, if passed, SB1031 may adversely affect many individuals in Virginia. According to statistics from Virginia Department of Education, in the 2024-2025 academic year, there are 56, 008 individuals homeschooled in Virginia, with just 6, 755 individuals holding religious deductions. The proposed policy by Pekarsky may restrict the ability of individuals who have religious reasons to homeschool their children. Maybe she and her companions in the teachers unions who ran her campaign like the remaining 49, 253 students to be forced into those public schools, collecting tax money from them.
As a mom who homeschooled my three babies for the 2020-21 educational time when Pekarsky and the other 11 Democratic-endorsed members of the Fairfax County School Board closed the state’s schools, I find this policy especially horrible. Taus of people who wanted more for their kids wouldn’t have been able to pull students from the state’s funny carnival of online learning had SB 103 been passed prior to the school board members ‘ careless determination to shut our children out of their classrooms.
Online “learning” in public schools was a catalyst for change at the grassroots level. Beginning with the pandemic, enrollment in public schools declined and homeschooling rates increased significantly. In 2019-2020, there were 38, 282 homeschooled students in Virginia. Virginia’s homeschooling rates have increased by more than 28 % in the last five years.
In Fairfax County, where Pekarsky began her political career before failing up to Virginia’s Senate, homeschooling increased from 3, 247 students in 2019 to 3, 749 students in 2024. Many more students attend private schools. During that time, the district’s enrollment declined from 189, 000 students in 2019-2020 to 181, 000 students in 2023-2024.
Virginia’s parents searched for better options and saw the results of school closures, the window into all the academic subjects our children were subjected to, and all the political pressures that were put upon them. There was a massive exodus from the district’s once-flagrant public schools as test scores fell during Pekarsky’s time serving on the Fairfax County school board.
The Middle Class’s Most Likely Alternative to Public Education Is Homeschooling.
Of the alternatives to public schools for Virginia’s children, homeschooling is the most affordable. In academic year 2024-2025, the average annual private school tuition in the state is$ 15, 321. Meanwhile, the average annual per pupil cost of homeschooling nationally is between$ 700 and$ 1, 800. Limiting the homeschool option is an absurd and absurd abuse of power because homeschooled children perform significantly better on standardized tests than students attending public schools.
As Democrat-endorsed local public school officials continue to push a political agenda in our public schools, including gender-identity education beginning in third grade, Democratic politicians, such as Pekarsky, are trying to limit parents ‘ avenues to escape the state-sponsored indoctrination of their children. For instance, school officials in school districts like Fairfax County Public Schools engage in the social gender transition of students without their parents ‘ consent and further compel them to speak with pre-determined pronouns in violation of the First Amendment. Meanwhile, parents ‘ political objections to such nonsense are not enough of a reason, according to Pekarsky, for parents to homeschool their children.
Pekarsky’s proposed legislation is just one example of many demonstrating the Democratic Party’s devaluation of freedom, disregard for the middle class, and disconnect with the American people.
The Virginia Senate Subcommittee on Public Education received the bill for consideration on January 16th. If Virginia’s Democratic senators learned anything about the pulse of the American people, demonstrated by the Democratic Party’s catastrophic loss in November, they would vote against SB1031.
Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor to The Federalist and the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network.
