Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Oh Brother, If It's Not the "S" Word, It's the Money

Homeschooling: Education not confined to school walls
A financial impact on school districts By Bryan Marshall



There are 365 homeschool students who would regularly attend a school in the Madison County School District, said Assistant Superintendent Paul Baker.



Based on the average daily attendance rate, the district would receive $4,435 per student if they attended school.“We’re not receiving $1,618,831,” Baker said. “That’s what homeschool costs us.”



At least he was honest enough to admit that after hiring more teachers and buying more materials they wouldn't get the full amount.



However, I don’t know that we would receive all that money as a plus because with 365 more kids, we’d have to have another 10 or 12 teachers hired,” he said. “You have to figure that, plus you have to have more materials and things like that. Of that $1.6 million, we would gain probably $800,000.”

It really ticks me off when public school officials imply that homeschoolers are costing them money. Why not accuse couples who choose not to have any kids of costing the public schools money, it's just as logical. Homeschoolers like everyone else pay property taxes that support the public schools, without for the most part receiving any of the benefits. And why don't they ever mention how much private schoolers are costing them? Why single out homeschoolers?

Perhaps one of the biggest problems with the public schools is this feeling of entitlement. They seem to see children as nothing more then a warm body to provide state funding to the school district. And they seem to believe they are entitled to your child's warm body even if they don't do an adequate job educating the child or keeping the child safe.

Children are more then a source of state funding and their parents should be able to choose the best educational option for their child.

8 comments:

  1. That was a badly written article.

    Of course the problem this article highlights isn't what homeschoolers cost the schools, it's how public schools are funded.

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  2. I have been researching HS'ing on and off for several months. I still do not understand how it's only homeschoolers who are costing the public schools money. If that's the case, and I don't think it is, then private schools are doing the same thing at a much higher rate. I've yet to hear a politician or a higher up employed through in a school district say anything negative about private schoolers...couldn't be because so many of them send their kids to private schools, could it?

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  3. Nicole,
    Of course not (snark).

    Not only is it because they send their children to private schools it has to do with the way the 'public' views private schools. Private schools are accepted, they are admired. The 'rich' attend private schools.

    On the other hand homeschooling is often viewed as something weirdos do. And of course we just do it to hurt the public schools and cost them money.

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  4. Point well taken. The moneyed among us can do no wrong. (rolls eyes)

    In the course of my research, I have been dismayed at the mud and hyperbole coming from the anti HS crowd.
    I'm not a homeschooler or even a parent, but I've been researching schools/education and it's been eye opening and disheartening. We've reached the point where we are making decisions based on the plan to try and homeschool future offspring.

    I enjoy your blog,thanks for so many interesting articles. I'll get off my soapbox now.

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  5. Nicole,
    It's very nice to hear that someone enjoys my blog. Feel free to get on your soap box anytime I enjoy getting feedback.

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  6. The badly written article makes a good deal of sense when we think about the whole public school scam as a government monopoly and as a jobs and contract program. Where else but the military do you pay more to buy in bulk? (See John Taylor Gotto's essay on the School Milk Program scam). Like all large institutions, public schools exist first to protect their existence.

    On the institutional level, they do feel entitled, and they do fear competition. Homeschoolers are giving them competition. So first they tried to say that we could not adquately educate our children. When we showed we could do that--and better than they do it--they said that we cannot adequately socialize our children. When we showed that we could do that--and better than they can--they are now going to the bottom line. Literally.

    I say: Too damn bad! I am not going to sacrifice my kiddo for your comfort.

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  7. I think it's amusing that he so openly admits that only half the money they receive for teaching children actually goes to, you know, *teaching children*. He could hardly be more blatant in treating children as a convenient way to raise money for administration.

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  8. Good point Queen of Carrots, I wonder how many people would vote to increase taxes for school bonds if they realized very little of the money was going toward educating the children.

    Elisheva Hannah Levin I enjoyed your thoughtful response. I guess we are all suppose to feel sorry for them or something. Poor public school administrator if I would just put my homeschooled child in their public school they would get more money. My child on the other hand would gain nothing.

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