As a home-school parent myself, I feel obliged to inform you that the public school system’s alternative schools programs, which Herald Writer Victor Balta reported on Feb. 20, are not the choice of most home-schoolers nationwide. In fact, many home-schooling families are opposed to these schools and view them as a threat to the autonomy and integrity of home-schooling.
Prior to 1995, alternative education programs were only for "at risk" students, and their goal was to work temporarily with these students and return them to public high school graduating classes. In 1995, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction changed this to a K-12 program geared toward home-schoolers.
I question the lawfulness of these alternative programs. According to WAC 392-121-182, under "Alternative learning experience requirements," the law states "An alternative learning experience is an individualized course of study for a student who is not home-based (home-schooled) pursuant to RCW 28.A.225.010 (4) ." What makes it lawful now?
Frustratingly, there are huge holes in the accountably of these programs, and many alternative school programs do not provide an informed choice for participating home-schoolers. Parents are often unaware that their participating children will become full-time enrollment students of the public school system. As such, they would forfeit their legal status as home-schoolers and lose their home-schooling rights and protection from discrimination as a home-schooler from both the law and the National Homeschool Legal Defense League.
Did you know that public schools get FTE state funding for each child enrolled in these alternative schools, even though these children only have to be on campus 5-15 hours per week? That makes for $4,000 (or more, depending on the district) that each district receives for each participating child, and these home-schooling families only receive about 10 percent (to be spent on pre-approved curriculum or private lessons such as piano or ballet). Could it be that we home-schoolers are being used as an avenue to increase district funding? Who most benefits financially from these programs?
I challenge Herald reporters to investigate the district budgets for these programs and how specifically the money is dispersed. I have not received direct answers from one alternative program I contacted. I was told that funding of these programs is not taken from designated school tax dollars. Where, then, is the funding coming from? Who are these programs accountable to?
School districts make participating home-schoolers FTEs of the public school system, even though they provide only a fraction of their education. Most schooling is done by their devoted parents. I have learned the school districts claim the WASL scores of home-schoolers who opt to participate in this test, and include their often higher achievement scores into the public school averages. These scores should be clearly differentiated from public school scores, so the state can more accurately measure the successes of the home-school movement.
Highly qualified parents who train their children well in home-school are required in these programs to report in and have their curriculum reviewed at least monthly by accredited teachers, even though the law already requires home-schooling parents to meet education requirements. Many home-schoolers find it humiliating and unnecessary to have their school work reviewed by someone else, but tolerate it to get the few hundred dollars that pay for extra-curricular or enrichment classes.
Alternative schools do have their benefits — they provide camaraderie, free enrichment classes, sometimes-necessary instruction if a parent of a home-schooler is weak in a particular area, and encouragement and guidance when parents are struggling. However, a big concern is that the more home-school students enroll in alternative schooling programs, the more "dependence" the home-school movement is falsely showing on the public school system. In time, many of us fear the home-schooling movement will be weakened and our independence blurred. Hence, legislators may make stricter laws regulating home-schooling.
Home-schooling groups throughout the state provide educational classes and support to fill these gaps, and hundreds, if not thousands, participate. I want to encourage fellow home-schoolers to consider the long-term consequences of their participation in "alternative" schools.
Pietra Gaebel lives in Everett.
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