What is happening to education in America? This is a question on everyone’s minds, but very few actually have an answer for it. There are various answers given but the one that sticks out most is the one dealing with legislation. How can the legislators of this country help with education?
Over the past few years families have had video glimpses of the drivel and anti-American evil being foisted in America’s government-run classrooms. They’ve also gotten a feel for what it takes to educate their children at home. But unless they make their move this summer to exercise their authority in deciding where, what and how their kids are taught, this unprecedented chance will likely be lost. Despite many parents not believing that they can educate their own kids, those naysayers are not appreciating the fact that all parents are teachers by definition and necessity.
The biggest problem faced is money both in the associated costs as well as the possible lost employment involved in staying home. There’s no good reason why parents, or even neighborhoods or other organizations, should not be paid well for taking over the government school mission.
The responsibility need not fall on each individual family. A dozen kids living in close proximity can easily form a local classroom and be taught by any of the parents or a hired instructor. The key is securing some level of funding from the taxes that are used for each child in the government schools. Educational expenditures in this country per year per student range from a low of around $8,000 in Utah to a high of around three times that amount in New York and the District of Columbia – with DC producing perhaps the worst academic result and Utah perhaps the best. With just half of average state funding following the student, those 12 neighborhood kids could have a six-figure classroom. This is more than enough funding to pay a well-qualified teacher and provide necessary supplies. Along with rotating parent volunteers, it could form the basis for expansion into full-size, American values-based, instructional institutions all over this hopefully still land of the free.
It is high time the legislators woke up and opened their eyes. In a country with 50 states, all states should have children doing well in school. There needs to be a lobbying effort in each state for legislators to direct tuition tax dollars to any homeschooling parent who will assume the responsibility.
