Should State Supply Books to Homeschoolers?

In their story on the recent Beaufort County Commission meeting, the Washington Daily Times mentions

Commissioner Hood Richardson argued that the state should provide textbooks to home-schooled students.

Richardson went on to criticize local education spending, saying that most of the money the schools receive "is just plain wasted ... mismanaged and ill-used.”

It may be mentioned that while some school systems have allowed homeschoolers to use public school textbooks which have been retired, states like Alaska which have provided funding to purchase books for home instruction -- which is not the same thing as independent homeschooling -- have seriously restricted which titles and content are available, cutting out authors and publishers in wide use by home educators.