A lot of issues come to the fore in this piece, which as I read, is at the top of the site’s “Most Viewed Stories” list ahead of ISU beating Nebraska, a plane crash, and a shooting of a mountain lion. That is interesting in itself.
Some excerpts from the piece that caught my eye:
Legislative leaders created “home-school assistance programs” two decades ago to keep the government’s foot in the door of what was then a controversial form of education.
Most of Iowa’s estimated 30,000 home-schooled students do not want the help. They believe the government has no place in their schools. But nearly 5,000 parents, including Fidei’s mother, appreciate the assistance.
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“I think some people mistakenly think if there are no home-school assistance programs these children would come back to public schools, and that’s just not true,” said Mid-Prairie Superintendent Mark Schneider.
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Home-schooled students who receive taxpayer support are not required to take standardized tests, like their public school counterparts.
The children also are not considered public school students in the eyes of the law, which sets Iowa apart from other states.
“We believe that home-schooling works best when parents are truly in charge,” [Scott] Woodruff said. “The defect of the home-school assistance program is that the public school is, in fact, in charge.”
That distinction has driven a wedge between Iowa’s “public” home-schoolers and their private counterparts.
Read the article here.
Ulrike said on January 17, 2010
Iowans aren’t paying for homeschools! They’re paying for the Home School Assistance Program (HSAP), which is a PUBLIC PROGRAM for homeschoolers. It provides things like enrichment classes (like art or science), social opportunities (like field trips), a supervising teacher (homeschoolers in Iowa must either have a supervising teacher OR submit an annual portfolio/test assessment), some teaching materials (not money to buy them, but actual text books chosen & purchased by the school), and free standardized testing (not mandatory by law, but often required or recommended by the HSAP). This is a way to keep homeschoolers connected to the public school system.
Perversely, the same people who are “outraged” to be funding the HSAPs are also suspicious of homeschoolers who homeschool independently, because there’s “not enough supervision” and “who knows what they’re actually doing”.