Posted on 02/27/2013 12:42:28 PM PST by MichCapCon
A Flint State Representative whose district has conventional public schools that have among the highest absentee rates in the state has introduced legislation that would mandate parents who homeschool their children be required to report attendance to the state.
Rep. Woodrow Stanley, D-Flint, said in a press release that “there are a growing number of kids becoming truant” in homeschools.
“Kids must be in school in order to learn,” Rep. Stanley said in a press release. “This bill requires parents to report their child’s attendance records, giving homeschools the same standards as public schools. Passing this bill is a no-brainer, it’s necessary for Michigan students.”
Michael Van Beek, education policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, questioned how Rep. Stanley could know truancy is growing in homeschools since the state doesn’t require registration of homeschool students or that such records be kept.
“There’s more evidence that truancy is a problem in the public school system than there is among homeschoolers,” Van Beek said. “There is evidence to suggest this is a problem for public schools in Flint.”
The City of Flint Public School’s attendance rate was 91.8 percent in 2009-10, which ranks 529th out of 550 districts. Flint Beecher district’s attendance rate was 91 percent in 2009-10, which was 535th out of 550 districts.
Rep. Stanley’s office didn’t respond to questions sent in an email.
There is an estimated 45,000 children being homeschooled in Michigan if the state has the same percentage of homeschooled children as the 3 percent national average.
“Public education is a service that the state offers to people, just like bus transportation,” said Karen Braun, a Canton woman who has homeschooled her six children. “I am not required to report my daily driving attendance to the MDOT. I should not be required to report my school attendance to the state schools. The state and those in the schools work for the parents, not the other way around. The state schools are accountable to the taxpayers but taxpayers (including homeschool taxpayers) are not accountable to the state schools. The taxpayer is the boss and the state is the employee. Understand that and Rep. Stanley will understand why this legislation is absurd.”
Hey Stanleydork,
Not a bad idea.
Those parents should indeed provide attendance lists - as soon as you sleazy liberals start paying them for actually teaching their children - and of course, deducting those monies from your sorry-*ssed public schools.
While you’re thinking this over, try shoving yourself up your smelly Obamahole, idiot.
“Yes, my children are in my home.”
‘Rep. Woodrow Stanley, D-Flint, said in a press release that “there are a growing number of kids becoming truant” in homeschools.’
This says it all...this is about control and nothing more.
“Kids must be in school in order to learn,” Rep. Stanley said in a press release.”
Oh, really?
We need to start thinking of some work for these no good busy bodies- and then demanding that OUR employees work for us- the message should be: Work your butt off- or don’t go in to government work.
Rep. Woodrow Stanley, D-Flint
For those of you in Rio Linda, Mr. Stanley is the former Mayor of Flint who ran up a $40 mil. debt and took the city into bankruptcy before losing his job in a recall election.
After being recalled he quickly landed a gig as a talk show host on the local black radio station where he daily lashed out at the recall election as being “racist”.
Massa State monitoring the slaves’ production of new inventory.
LOL. He wasn't going to get recalled from a black majority city due solely to crackas.
Don Williams was just as bad though.
I only homeschooled our kids for 3-4 hours, 4 days a week. I left one week day for running errands.
For the longest time, I thought that I was doing something wrong. Then I broke it down.
With my kids in public school, they were gone from 6:30AM-4:00PM.
We lived in a rural area and that made for a long bus ride. Their actual school hours were from 7AM-3PM.
OK. So here were my deductions.
15 minutes - ‘homeroom’
70 minutes - 8 classes, 10 minute break between classes
80 minutes - 8 classes, 10 minutes each class taking attendance and getting settled
80 minutes - 8 classes, 10 minutes per class dealing with disruptions
88 minutes - delete two unnecessary classes to focus on the basics
It adds up to about 5.5 hours of wasted time in the schools out of an eight hour day.
Our schedule consisted of reading, writing, grammar, math, science and history. As I only had to ‘get through’ to one kid per lesson, we could move on to the practice work pretty quickly. If one of them had a hang-up, they had immediate clarification and could move on.
For the rest of the day, I didn’t think that I was teaching, but I was. They were shown how to properly clean and cook. They sat down with me and did bills every month and learned how to calculate compound interest. They learned nutrition, basic health and how to maintain a healthy relationship. Car maintenance, how to plumb and snake a sink, the inner workings of a toilet, budget balancing, how to shop by ounce and not by price, how to file taxes and invest money and so much more.
How in the world would I calculate all that? Honestly, my children received MANY more hours of education than their peers and it shows. Yes, they sat down and did math and grammar and wrote a basic five paragraph essay every morning. Then they read a book for pleasure. For science we went outside and built a sundial for fun. I told them about how every culture had it’s own version and how they worked. For history, I told them about Queen Isabella while we did dishes and the kids put on a play about Columbus for my husband and me that night.
The rest of it, they learned naturally. And that’s what people no longer seem to grasp. It is NATURAL for a parent to teach their child. If they have time, that’s what every good parent will automatically do.
But it all needs to be regulated, according to these wonks.
same standards? Does that mean in MA that girls would be required to shower with tranny boys at home?
If there is such distrust, then how would the reported attendance records be verified?
Don’t Michigan homeschoolers have a reputation for going after politicians who try to mess with them?
DemoRats = Tyrants
[Scratching my head] I understand how someone can be truant from school, but how can a person be truant from their own home? [/scratching]
God bless you!
Go on the offensive. Privatize all education.
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