Yowsa!
Looks like your button got pushed!
Posted on 03/08/2007 12:23:40 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
Tired of parents pulling their kids out of school for a ski trip or a visit to Disneyland, the local school system is billing them for the missed class time at $36.13 per day.
That is how much the Scotts Valley district calculates it loses under a state formula that doles out school funding according to daily attendance.
In truth, the bills are merely a request; no one is actually required to pay.
But some parents in the well-to-do community 30 miles south of Silicon Valley are paying up to ease their guilty consciences. Others are refusing, saying the request is offensive in a state where nearly half the annual budget _ $66 billion _ already is devoted to education.
"I tossed it. It's a public school. I'm not going to be told to pay when I have my kids out," said Helene Handy, who received the explanatory letter three times, once for each of her children. "We've got to have a better way to pay for our schools."
School officials said the purpose is twofold _ to discourage parents from aiding and abetting hooky, and to recoup money lost to absences.
The 2,800-student district _ which is populated with a large number of high-tech specialists and managers and had a median household income in 2000 of more than $72,000 _ sent a letter of explanation in January to parents. It was titled "If You Play, Please Pay."
"Are the ski slopes calling? Is the beach beckoning? Are you taking the kids to Disneyland midweek to avoid the crowds?" the letter asked. "If so, we would encourage you to reconsider. When your child misses school, there are consequences for the student and the district."
In California, under a formula that dates to the 1930s, how much a school receives in tax dollars is based on how many students are in class on any given day.
"Elective absences," or days missed for reasons other than illness, cost the Scotts Valley district $223,000 during the 2005-06 school year, according to the school system. On average, it says, a Scotts Valley child misses 2.3 days because of elective absences.
Within two weeks after the letter went home, the district collected more than $2,000, said Brenda Spalding, assistant to Superintendent Susan Silver.
Stan Wilson took his two children to Hawaii for a week earlier this school year. Connor, 6, and Courtney, 8, missed five days of school. When the family returned, the Wilsons received a note from the school system asking for compensation. The letter did not specify how much, but it would have totaled more than $360.
Wilson happily gave even more, writing a check for $500. The tax-deductible "donation" was a bargain compared to the private school tuition he and his wife were prepared to pay before they decided to keep their children in public school, Wilson said.
"We saved so much money, we decided it was fair," he said.
The 10,000-student San Mateo-Foster City elementary school system started doing the same thing a few years ago, when Silver was an administrator there. Representatives of the associations representing state and national school boards said they had not heard of any other districts trying to recover costs when students miss class.
Charlotte Multer, a member of the PTA at two Scotts Valley schools, said the request for reimbursement is fair.
"Our schools are duct-taped together and they're in portables. It's a shame. We need every penny we can keep," she said. "If you can afford to go to Disneyland or go on a ski trip, maybe you can afford a donation."
(rolling eyes) Right.... why go to math class when you can go to Wallyworld. It's a communist plot of some kind.
Ping!
Unbelievable.
Yowsa!
Looks like your button got pushed!
I have to admit, I was in school a long time ago, and at that point in time my moral instruction was something my parents and church decided they could handle themselves.
Send them a receipt for the property taxes and say they already gave at the office.
Always nice to meet another homeschool grad. *wave*
I hear you, I dearly wish I could opt out of funding public schools with my taxes.
Because they don't miss as much these days as you did in your school days.....
It's also why many school districts are enticing homeschoolers to participate in band, sports, or particular classes. they can get funding based on the amount of time homeschooled families spend in their programs. It doesn't cost them anything since the programs are all set up, and they get thousands of dollars extra funding.
Which is one reason I wouldn't want anything to do with such a program...
The only sex education I remember was when the boys went to one room and the girls went to another, and we saw a Disney-type film on how we develop and what the eventual ramifications of that were likely to be.
Menstruation was explained in the film, and the very next week, I experienced menarche. I assumed that was the deal - you couldn't get your period 'til you'd seen the movie.
Damn right! I turn my trips like Disney into science time. Once in a while, we discuss the "simple machines", sometimes it's hydraulics, and other times we discuss social sciences, crowd interaction, etc.
I hardly go anywhere with my babies that isn't more educational than a classroom. Even when we screw around at the beach or fishing, it's marine biology time. And when we get home, we look up all the questions I didn't know the answer to. We have fun, and we all learn lots.
I also think that schools presume way too much on kids' time - they have them all day and then give tons of homework. Family time is an important part of growing up too. Sounds weird to have to actually say that....
I've known multiple military families that have taken their children out of school in order to go to Disneyworld and Disneyland. I don't question their commitments. As long as they do the work required, what's the problem? The purpose of school is to educate. If a child is failing, then I have a problem with parents taking the child out for vacations. Otherwise, I think the government ought to lay off.
I've been to Disneyworld and Epcot multiple times. I don't recall ever fighting a crowd. But I admit it's been a while since I've been.
I lived in Virginia till I was 17 and would go surfing practically every day after I was done with my studies. I learned amazing amounts of stuff from meteorology and marine biology. There was also colonial Williamsburg, Nauticus, Navy Norfolk, Yorktown, civil war battlefields, Roanoke island down in the outer banks etc. etc. All of which I spent many many a day at in my home schooling career. All things I could never of possibly been able to do if I was in public school because I would be stuck in a class room.
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