Posted on 03/03/2009 2:55:03 PM PST by Sopater
On January 22, a committee of the Rapid City School Board implied that homeschoolers were to blame for the school system losing thousands of dollars in funding. Just six days later, the Clear Lake Courier blamed homeschoolers for the loss of $41,000 in school funding.
When homeschoolers are wrongly accused of creating financial problems for public school systems, it’s time to respond. HSLDA attorney Scott A. Woodruff sent the following letter to the editor to the Clear Lake Courier:
Dear Editor:By leaving the blame for the school system losing $41,981 at the door of area homeschoolers, your recent article, “Students and aid lost from open enrollment,” encourages your readership to think that homeschoolers are the problem.
But it’s perfectly logical to reduce a school’s funding when it serves fewer students. If there are fewer students, the school needs less money.
The question that then remains is: “Since the opportunity to serve someone is a privilege, not an entitlement, what does the school plan to change to reduce the erosion of confidence among area families?” That’s the $41,000 question that went unasked and therefore unanswered in your article.
Next time the Clear Lake Courier talks about schools “losing” money because of homeschoolers, please mention how much homeschoolers save the taxpayer by educating their children at their own expense—not the taxpayers’. Homeschoolers are some of the best friends the taxpayer has.
Sincerely, Scott A. Woodruff, Esq.
The letter is succinct, on point, and its logic unassailable. (I need to work on that with mine).
Free tax money from the parents who are homeschooling — what could be better?
He Forgot Catholic Schools save 7-9,000 per student in Taxes..
We homeschool, and we’re still taxed to pay for the liberal indoctrination of public schools.. Public school leaders don’t care about the children, they care about their budgets and the control they have.
Notice I said public school leaders. There are a lot of good, hard working, and caring teachers in public schools.
They don’t care about the kids or the taxpayers. They only want the money.
Yeah. Nothing worse than a home schooled kid. They usually far exceed public school bone heads by miles. They also say “yes sir” and “yes ma’am” and usually have a high regard for JC. Wouldn’t want the bar raised or anything.
....here’s the real issue: government schools are frightened at the growth of home schooling....it undermines their influence...so the teachers unions get ahold of their pawns at state legislatures to try and restrict h.s. with onerous regulations....then they use a smear campaign like this one to try and discredit h.s. in the public eye.
Yeah, those homeschoolers are making everyone else look bad. (/sarc)
I would happily take the credit, uhh, blame, for cutting the school district’s budget by $41,000.
We also homeschool. We live in an area with a very large population that homeschools. Thankfully, our school system here treats us wonderfully and works with us. However, our school system is also “relatively” conservative.
The school system here recognizes that we give them tax dollars but don’t take up seats in a classroom. If all the homeschoolers were to go back to the schools here, it would be disasterous and the schools overcrowded.
Personally, while my paying taxes for schools is not technically “fair”, I don’t make a fuss. I feel like if I get a tax break, the government then may think they have the right to regulate what I teach, how and when. I don’t want to go there!
All I need to know about Homeschoolers I learned from Jonathan Krohn at CPAC.
This is further proof that if you send your kids to public schools, you are part of the problem.
If the school system was doing its job, there would be fewer homeschoolers.
expect Obama to try and shut down homeschools and christian schools
AMEN, we are forced to pull our kids....look at the system, even 0Bama doesn’t send his kids to public schools.
the government already thinks it has that right. Wait until Obama gets around to it.
Yes, this government does think it has that right. Scary times indeed.
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