Public Schools don't want you and your children to have options.

Some interesting information was passed on to me, via my daughters homeschool program (K12), in regards to a house and senate bill that has been intro'd in my state of residence. The bill would basically make it impossible for the program to stay in operation and they would no longer be able to provide a homeschool curriculum in my state.

The homeschool program has been very popular here and in other areas of the U.S. where it is available and there is a fairly large percentage of children in the U.S. being homeschooled (2.9% in 2007), and that percentage is growng. The reason it's growing? Please allow me to be politically incorrect for a moment and say:

PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE US SUCK!

I know this is a broad statement, and I am also aware that there are maybe a few good public schools left, but compared to when I was growing up, and all the budget cuts, it's gone from bad to worse. It's gotten so bad that I can tell you, in my city alone, I wasn't the only parent that pulled their child out of public school here and made the decision to homeschool. The amount of children currently homeschooled in my state is currently well over 22,000. That should tell you something.

So of course, for every child that is homeschool, that's another dollar that the public schools aren't getting. The lower the public school attendance is, the less money they get, and frankly it all boils down to MONEY. So now the public school system here is whining and crying that they are losing money because the HS program here DOES receive funding from the state, and they get paid for every child in attendance via the HS program just the same as pub. schools would. So now it's a competition, and the public schools are losing. And because they're losing, now, there are bills being passed in an attempt to shut the program down.

What you need to understand is that this is a FREE, state funded homeschool program, for children and parents who want an alternative to public school. There are private homeschool programs where you have to pay tuition as well, and of course there are also charter and private schools outside the home you can send your child to.  But quite, simply, because the program is free, and they get state funding, they are getting quite a bit of money that the public schools are not. So in a lame attempt to defend and save public schools, our house rep and senator have decided to go after the program.

What do I think about all of this? Well... considering that my daughter is doing much better in school, and considering how much I passionately loathe the public school system as a whole, I think it's a total crock. Everytime pub. schools screw up they want to blame someone else and cry wolf. So right now it's K12's fault that the public schools are failing, and shame on them, and let's shut them down because they are taking all of our money. Boo hoo.

I hate to break the news to you, but if the population of homeschoolers is growing as rapidly as it is, there's really not going to be much of anything the public school system can do about it. People will continue searching for alternatives to public schools, homeschool and even some non traditional schools are becoming very popular, and of course one of my favorite sayings: One monkey don't stop no show.Yes they will continue to try to find something wrong with homeschooling, and parents will continue to make choices beneficial to their families.

I am very happy with K12, and in the event that the fertility gods grant me permission to spawn again (snicker snicker), I will definitely consider the program for all of my children, or one similar to it. But let's not discuss that now, we can save ovary talk, for another blog.

 

Posted via web from Kali Ma: In Search of Truth and Saraswati