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Ohio state Rep. Marilyn John (R) co-sponsored a school-choice bill that would have given public money to home-schoolers as well private-school students. The state's leading home-school organization opposed the bill, fearing it would bring new regulations.  

When Melanie Elsey stepped up to the lectern at the Ohio Statehouse in April, it looked like a triumphant season for home-schoolers.

Lawmakers would soon roll back what little oversight the state exercised over its booming population of home educators. Now they were discussing what should have been an equally welcome policy. As part of an expansive school-choice bill, Republican legislators wanted to offer home-schoolers thousands of dollars in taxpayer funding each year.

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The Ohio Statehouse. Home-schooling leaders worry that if they accept government funding they will also be forced to accept oversight of the kind that they have spent decades dismantling.  

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Alisa Queen, a financial systems analyst for the U.S. Treasury Department, works from home and home-schools her 17-year-old grandson, Wyatt.  

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Queen said she would eagerly sign up for money from the state — even if it meant standardized testing or other regulations.  

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Queen is in her second year of home-schooling her 17-year-old grandson, Wyatt.  

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