After graduating from SSHS (without the benefit of social promotion) when that school was the academic equivalent of a Canterbury and spending decades surviving the brutality of the private sector (performance accountability and the constant threat of extinction) I lost track of the changes in the education system. I could only infer from the declining quality of our company hires that something was amiss. We adapted by hiring high school "graduates" only as temps. Permanent hires had to have two years of "college" remedial education.
After I retired and had time to wander around during the day I was puzzled by all the kids walking around during school hours. When asked why they weren't in school, the answer was usually "we're home schooled, sir". Sir? Home schooled? What's that? First of all how can anybody duplicate the services of the government education system at home? Second, why would anybody want to?
The answer to the first question became apparent through my ten year acquaintance with a home schooling family. The two kids were home schooled until they were through the equivalent of middle school and were then enrolled in a small public high school. The eldest is now a senior who will graduate at or near the top of his class.
The second question was answered the first day I set foot in my former high school.
Both papers have recently run a letter from a home schooling mother complaining about the unfairness of the the voucher law because it requires kids to spend at least a year in public school. She wants to avoid the current "poorly performing" school system, if she chooses to enroll them in a private school. Obviously this mother has not been attending FWCS board meetings or reading the JG or she would have learned from Mark GiaQuinta that we now have a "high performance" district. It just changed overnight. Or perhaps she 's spent some time in FWCS classrooms and saw something closer to the truth.
Why, she then asks, would the legislature restrict access to vouchers when the average private school spends $4500 per student versus $9900 spent by government schools? The state could save a ton of money for every voucher they give out. Obviously this mother doesn't realize that she's over-simplifying the situation. That extra money buys the government system all kind of added features. Nicer ("decent" as GiaQuinta puts it) buildings, more bureaucracy, sports programs, and teachers unions. It buys newspaper stories about home schooling run amuck so they can agitate for restrictions on home schooling which costs the taxpayers nothing. It buys Democratic legislators and lobbyists to keep that extra $4700 coming.
The Republican legislators had to offer the Democrats some kind of sop to come back from Peoria which they did by putting in some obstacles to vouchers. So there's your answer. You should at least hire some lobbyists.
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I have had the same question. Our adult kids are living with carpet that REALLY needs replaced and a lot of other things that they REALLY do need but have let all those things go so they could send their kids to a small private school where they receive an excellent education. The Christian school they go to costs much less per kid than our public school gets from government per kid. So, why can't the state allow my kids to use THEIR SHARE of THEIR tax money to be spent at the school of their choice? The way I see it, the state actually saves money and would not punish parents who want the best for their kids. Mandating my grand kids attend a sub-standard school for a year so they can get a voucher absolutely stinks! HOWEVER, our grand kids school will not accept government vouchers and probably for good reason. What I WANT is to allow my kids to be allowed to deduct the full cost (up to the same amount the public school receives per kid) from their income taxes. They would be paying for their kids' education directly from their pocketbooks instead of running it through the government.
What I WANT is to allow my kids to be allowed to deduct the full cost (up to the same amount the public school receives per kid) from their income taxes.
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That line item deduction would increase the likelihood of IRS audit, and a visit from CPS. Do you really want the government stepping on your doorstep and knowing everything about your kids?
That share comes mostly from the taxpayers and a lot of them would object to what you propose. I would like to be able to designate who gets my school taxes but that won't happen either. As long as the state constitution requires a publicly funded education be available to everyone, the government pretty much has to distribute the money.
FWCS is down about 500 students, half of those students went to vouchers. However, I suspect that there are several that went the homeschooling route, and several more went to NWCS. Open enrollment at Adams Central Schools, Northern Wells Community Schoools and other area school districts assisted in decline.
There's probably a limit to how many private schools can absorb. Transportation may be a problem for some. I just don't see vouchers having a major impact on the total enrollment although they will probably accelerate the loss of the better students.
Transportation is no problem for a dozen or so Waynedale families, who have enrolled their children at Northern Wells Community Schools, rather than Waynedale, Maplewood, Miami or Wayne.
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