Issues surrounding parental decisions to privatize their children's education are examined in this paper, which focuses on three issues: (1) the declining credibility of state-sponsored education; (2) the nature and causes of privatized education as a viable alternative; and (3) the context in which this option occurs. The first section discusses several Marxist theories of the state, and the second section uses data on parents who home school to demonstrate the relationship between privatized education and the structural conflicts rooted in the state's attempt to balance its dual imperatives of accumulation and legitimation. Methodology involved a questionnaire sent to 1,600 Oregon families, of whom 35 percent responded; indepth interviews were held with 15 of those families. Rationales given for home schooling included lack of parental influence on the educational system and opposition to its ideological content. Other findings showed that home schooling parents had little confidence in public education and other institutions, especially organized religion. Two groups, Christians and New Age affiliates, shared ideological reasons for home schooling. A conclusion is that the current trend toward privatized education must be examined within the wider context of "state crises" manifested at the organizational and ideological levels of the state, and that the home schooling movement is linked to the state's struggle to balance contradictory imperatives. Three tables are included. (33 references) (LMI)