Homeschoolers are often credited in part with producing Mike Huckabee’s Iowa boom — his straw-poll victory, and later his surprisingly strong victory in the caucuses.

But the homeschool movement is at least somewhat divided over Huckabee, particularly because of a bill he signed in April 1999 imposing new restrictions on homeschool families. Known as HB 1724, the bill consisted of three major provisions, described thus at the time by the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA):

(1) Notice of intent must be given no later than August 15 by parents beginning home schooling in the fall semester or by December 15 for those beginning in the spring semester.
(2) Parents deciding to begin home schooling after the start of a semester are permitted to do so by providing the notice of intent 14 days prior to withdrawing the child from public school and each year thereafter at the beginning of the school year. The superintendent or the local school board may waive the 14-day waiting period.
(3) A public school student who is currently under disciplinary action for violation of any school policy is not eligible to begin home schooling unless (a) the superintendent or local school board chooses to allow the student to enroll in a home school, (b) the disciplinary action against the student has been completed or the school semester ends, whichever occurs first, or (c) the student has been expelled from public school.

HSLDA opposed this bill at the time, but its federal PAC is now supporting Huckabee for president. Here is their explanation of why:

[D]uring the 1999 legislative session, two bad bills were introduced to impose restrictions on the homeschoolers. There was a great deal of momentum to get these bills through.
To avoid a major step backward for homeschool freedom, local homeschool leaders worked with a homeschooling father in the [Arkansas] House of Representatives (Rep. Jim Magnus, Republican of Little Rock) to sponsor a bill which would place some additional regulations on homeschoolers but would avoid the much worse provisions of the other two bills. HSLDA could not support this compromise bill because we always stand on the side of homeschool freedom and against government regulation. We opposed the bill and urged our members to lobby against the bill without success.
The political reality, however, was that the homeschoolers were going to have to give the opposition something or they were going to get something much worse. As far as Governor Huckabee was concerned, it was a bill the homeschoolers wanted. It was sponsored by a homeschooling father in the legislature and had the support of the Arkansas Family Council. The bill was enacted and became Act 1117.
HSLDA-PAC has spoken directly with Governor Huckabee and we believe that by his words and actions he is a firm supporter of homeschooling.

This controversy has come up as other homeschool leaders are questioning the group’s endorsement of Huckabee. Last week, Dennis Smith of the Michigan-based Information Network for Christian Homes (INCH), endorsed Mitt Romney in a letter to supporters in which he mentioned HB 1724, among other things.

Mike Huckabee has become a bit of a conundrum for me. As governor of Arkansas he meets my leadership experience hurdle. I’m being told by HSLDA leadership that he is a Christian and has their endorsement, which should make him my hands-down favorite. But I see a fair amount of disparity between what I’ve heard in his campaign rhetoric and his record as Governor in Arkansas. He says he’s for lower taxes, but he raised taxes in AR. He says he supports homeschoolers and that they should be left alone, yet he signed into law a bill that imposed new restrictions on homeschoolers in AR.

Mary Pride of Homeschool World cited the same law, HB 1724, in announcing her support of Ron Paul.

It is certainly debatable as to whether Huckabee is the best candidate for homeschoolers. But for all of his flaws, he does not appear to be a homeschool villain just because he signed HB 1724. HSLDA’s account portrays Huckabee as someone who worked with homeschoolers to preserve their freedom, and who signed HB 1724 because homeschoolers in Arkansas were supporting it — even if it was bad for homeschooling, broadly speaking.