Writing for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Marc Holley notes a troubling development in Michigan: a bill in the legislature would require parents who homeschool their children to register with the state.

Holley sees a camel's nose in in the tent as well as a violation of a fundamental principle that should guide education policy: "The reason that home-school instructors do not need to be certified is at the heart of the choice to home-school: Parents are seeking an alternative educational environment for their children. Of course, the strongest argument against the requirement that home-school instructors be certified is that parents, not the state, have the fundamental right to look after the welfare and rearing of their own children."

This principle, by the way, was articulated in the 1925 Supreme Court case known as Pierce v. Society of Sisters, which said "The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations."