Gallup polls of American voters have shown a significant change in attitude in the last twenty years, from 73% opposed in 1985 to 54% opposed in 2001
Opposition to homeschooling comes from varied sources, including organizations of teachers and school districts. For example, the National Education Association, the largest teachers' union (in fact, the largest labor union) in the United States, is on record as opposing homeschooling outright, though in recent years they have not been outspoken in this opposition. Opponents' stated concerns fall into several broad categories, including: academic quality and completeness; reduced government money for the public schools; socialization of children with peers; and fear of religious or social extremism.
Two recent studies by the Home School Legal Defense Association, a homeschooling advocacy group, dispute the claim that the academic quality of homeschooling programs is substandard.
Opponents view homeschooling parents as sheltering their children and denying them opportunities that are their children's right, reducing the amount of government funds public schools would receive if more children were attending the publicly-funded school, and providing an unfair advantage to homeschooled children over students whose parents lack the time or money for homeschooling.