“Take heart, God has a beautiful call on your lives.” – PA Senator Doug Mastriano
Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano and his wife, Rebbie, encouraged a packed room of homeschool parents at the 2022 CHAP Convention held at the York Expo Center in June, telling them to “take heart, God has a beautiful call on your lives” and confirming that as parents, “you will change history.” Their topic was “Your Life Matters.”
Doug, a retired army colonel and homeschool dad with four masters degrees and a PhD, ran for political office after serving in the army for thirty years, and then realized that like other old soldiers, he could not just fade away. He took up the call to of public service and now represents families in the 33rd district (Adams and parts of Cumberland, Franklin, and York Counties) in his role as a Pennsylvania State Senator.
Doug and Rebbie shared their conviction that parents should have the right to direct the education of their own children. Doug has been actively supporting school choice and parental freedom, introducing Senate Bill 996 to affirm parental rights in Pennsylvania, and supporting efforts to bring competition to public schools to make them better. Doug affirmed that “there are a lot of great teachers that believe in education and the kids” and pointed out that our educational system has lost its focus. As a society, “we need to produce students that know how to think and not what to think.” Rebbie urged every parent to pray about their child’s schooling and what their responsibility is. She emphasized that God holds each parent responsible for their children, not a village.
Not just words, the Mastriano family has lived out their convictions. When it came time to send their son, Josiah, off to school, they were living on a military base in Germany. It was then that God put the call on Rebbie’s heart to homeschool him. Rebbie shared that “the main reason why I homeschooled was because God just put it on my heart that he wanted me to do it.” As a military family, it was a good fit, but being stationed in Germany where homeschooling was illegal, it was a challenging beginning. Friends and colleagues attempted to dissuade them from their calling, letting them know they weren’t professionals, and that their son would not be properly “socialized.” To stay reminded that God had called her to homeschool, Rebbie posted a vision statement on her wall.
Their commitment to God’s calling has reaped its rewards. Doug and Rebbie are very proud of their son, who wrote and published his first book before he was twenty years old. Far from being socially awkward, he grew up surrounded by kids from other families on military bases, participated in Boy Scouts, and was part of various homeschool groups. Homeschooling allowed him to pursue many diverse interests, opened a lot of creativity in him, and allowed him to have opportunities that he wouldn’t have had otherwise. Currently, Josiah is in the National Guard and serves as a chaplain at businesses both in Pennsylvania and Maryland where he is making a difference for people spiritually.
Rebbie assured parents that “each family that makes the choice to homeschool is called by God to do that.” She thanked families for answering God’s call to homeschool their children and reminded them that in answering this calling, they are giving our nation and our community the best they can.
Doug explained his ongoing efforts in Harrisburg. A strong advocate of school choice, he supports legislation to provide scholarships/education grants/education opportunities for each student, such that the money follows the student. Parents could then pick between a government school (and which government school), a private school, a cyber school, or homeschool. They would no longer be locked into a zip code with a failed or unsafe system and no viable options. For homeschoolers wary of the inevitable strings attached to government funding, Senator Mastriano fully understood. From his perspective, “if you don’t want the money that is okay–don’t take it. If you need the money, then it would be available to purchase curriculum.”
Doug urged everyone to become engaged with their representatives and senators, and to vote. He reminded families that “if we stand aside, we get the kind of government that we deserve,” and “if you stand aside, you have no right to complain—you got what you deserved, because you picked your sovereign (your earthly sovereign).” As Benjamin Franklin warned us, keeping a republic is not easy. However, if we remain engaged, then in his words, “America’s best days are ahead,” and “Pennsylvania’s best days are ahead.”
Doug thanked homeschool families for choosing the sort of education that they wanted, for standing against cultural norms despite the pressure to conform and be like everyone else, and for sacrificing so much for their kids. With his final words, he uplifted parents with the thought that they are raising America’s leaders.
