Public schools in PA pay/reimburse parents to home school? They sure don’t in VA.
I never got a dime, nor were my home-schooled children allowed to participate in ANY extracurricular activities at the public schools that I had to pay for through my property taxes. They had to be tested by the county (or was it state?) every year to assure they were on par (ha!) with students in the public schools.
However, that said, if kids are being home schooled and learning online, why does it matter where they are physically? They could be in PA/VA or Timbuktu for all it matters. It’s a cyber-world out there. Many companies have employees working ‘remote’ from all around the globe; they don’t have to be in the office. Why should schooling be any different?
The current social compact is that the legal residence of the parents is that of the kids, and the local school district has taken on responsibility for their education, unless parents opt out, either for private or parochial schools, or for home schooling.
If the PA law allows payment or reimbursement for home-schooling, I don’t see what’s wrong with what Santorum did. Did the Santorums not pay taxes at their PA home? Or would the PA district have given them a cut in his home’s taxes because he wasn’t there with his family? Or because his kids weren’t in the public school? Do PA parents who elect to send their kids to private or parochial school get a break in taxes since they aren’t using that costly public service?
First let me say that I have no complaint with the OP and what Santorum said about schools (other than the lack of a solutions.) Santorum is not my guy, but I will vote for him if he is the nominee.
I ask these questions because I truly don’t know the answers.
Is cyber-schooling different from home schooling? Are you able to access regular school curriculum via the internet for a charge?
Although the Santorums owned a home in PA, their primary residence appears to be VA for several years (job convenience). So why not use the VA school system?
I can understand being overseas and cyber-schooling your child in America.