Education savings accounts and ESA-like individual tax credits are sweeping the nation, allowing more parents to direct public education funding.
But some states give students vastly different funding amounts depending on where they learn.
Some, like Florida, Arizona, and, most recently, Idaho, fund all students through the same formula.
But others, like Oklahoma and now Texas, offer far less funding to students who aren’t enrolled and paying tuition in a full-time private school. Under Texas’s new law, a homeschool student could expect to receive about a fifth of what a typical student attending a full-time private school would receive.
Iowa goes even further, requiring students to enroll in an accredited private school if they want funding at all.
Utah started out offering equal funding to students regardless of what learning option they chose, but this year, lawmakers voted to cut funding amounts for homeschoolers.
There is some logic behind this disparate treatment. As Mike Petrilli has pointed out, it’s easier to for government regulators to gauge the academic performance of a school than to somehow get a handle on the vast array of options chosen by homeschoolers, which by their nature often defy reliable measurement by traditional metrics like test scores or graduation rates.
And for current homeschoolers, a typical scholarship worth between $5,000 and $10,000, depending on the state, almost certainly would far exceed their typical spending on curriculum and co-op fees.
But that’s not the whole story. “Homeschooling” is an increasingly inapt term for various forms of parent-directed education or indie schooling that blur the definitional lines. And the options taking root in this increasingly hard-to-define ecosystem may hold the key to a future in which all parents are able to customize the education of their children, educators are free to create new options to serve them, and disruptive education innovations can take root.
If new families who currently rely on conventional schools are ever going to join this ecosystem, they’re bound to have needs, and incur expenses, that look different from those of current homeschoolers.
Surveys show the vast majority of parents who currently identify as homeschoolers say either they or their spouse — and it’s usually the mom — stay home to focus on supporting their children’s learning.
For indie education to break into the mainstream, it’s going to need to become more logistically viable for families in which both parents work. They’re going to need childcare solutions. These may be flexible learning centers like KaiPod where students bring their own curriculum, schools that make flexible use of students’ time, or other solutions no one has dreamed up yet. But tje bottom line is they will cost money, and families using these options will have a different expense profile than many current homeschoolers.
In other words, it probably does not make sense to base scholarship funding on outdated assumptions that draw a hard and fast distinction between schooling and homeschooling.
The magic is in the blurring of the lines.
In Brief
Homeschooling, or whatever you want to call it, is exploding in Georgia.
The new Pope is a product of America’s Catholic schools.
South Carolina lawmakers have passed new ESA legislation, hoping this go-round will fare better in court.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, far from any voucher policy, private schooling is alive and well, fueled by affluent families escaping dysfunction.
Democrats for Education Reform lays out a plan for an education abundance agenda.
A look at how innovative schools measure success reveals a central challenge: Most of their preferred methods aren’t likely to be legible by governments.
A sleeper trend that should be getting more attention: With the right support, adults from all different walks of life, including college students, can be effective tutors. The evidence base is growing.
Looking to make big changes in public education? Consider starting in a rural district. As one superintendent writes, it’s like piloting a kayak (as opposed to the cruise ship of a large urban system).
School spending is up across the country. Teacher salaries are not.
Milwaukee’s new superintendent is ordering central office employees with teaching credentials back into the classroom.
Houston’s new merit pay system will allow top performing teachers to command six-figure salaries.
Floridians used to say, “Thank God for Mississippi” as it brought up the rear in national test score rankings. Now people across the country are saying it for a different reason: It may be home to the nation’s best-performing schools, and certainly its best proof point for the power of systemic reform.
Parent Corner
A new study looks at praise addiction in children.
Children higher in praise addiction had lower self-esteem, were more sensitive to reward, and experienced higher parental overvaluation (aka the belief that “my child is very special”) and lower parental warmth.
The study also shows praise addiction is not the same thing as narcissism.
