Ty, btw. These folk have opted out of services, yet want to double dip: No oversight, yet access.

I'm keen on the social benefit of rounding out kids' skill, but you can't privately exempt your fam and turn around and request public services.

As someone who was homeschooled in the late 90s and early 00s. I completely agree.

I also was under the impression that all that was something you could do back then.

Direct link without the third party site serving ad's: https://www.kcur.org/education/2023-03-14/missouri-homeschool-families-want-access-to-public-school-activities-and-sports-teams?_amp=true

So they want the schools to let their kids not attend like other students, but still participate in sports and other such activities? Sounds like they want to pick and choose what part of society they get to take advantage of while opting out of things they do not want. Maybe they should get together with the other homeschool parents and make a homeschool sports team.

TY for the repost. I broke rules, so

Would this mean their homeschool children would have access to sports scholarships typically meant for public education kids?

Also I can see an argument either way for this. Why is it particularly bad in your opinion?

There are several arguments against.

1. Why should the schools have to accommodate a non-student? Especially with limited budgets.
2. Why should a non-student get to take up a spot on a team that a regular student may want?
3. This opens up schools to athletic recruiting shenanigans. If you can get a non-regular student on your sportsball team, there is a significant risk (as we saw in the past leading to the current rule set) that children will be recruited to specific teams.
4. Homeschoolers opt out of the school system for a reason. Getting to pick and chose what parts you want should not be an option. If you want your kid in a public schools athletic program (or art or music) then enroll them public school.

As a child I was home schooled for several years. It was not a good thing and I suffered from it. But god said to do so and thus I was stuck. And while over the decades I've interacted with a small number of children who were helped by it, the vast majority I've met were not.

I recall that there is a minimum grade point average one must maintain to participate in extracurricular activities. How will that be enforced fairly? Kid is failing but wants to play ball, let's homeschool.

That's actually a really solid reason in and of itself.

Do homeschooling families pay property taxes that fund schools? If they do, why can’t they use their tax monies to benefit their family..

1. Sports should have tryouts.. everyone doesn’t make the team. Crazy idea.. especially nowadays.

2. Have the homeschoolers take an academic assessment test to qualify for school activities.

3. Most homeschoolers still have cooperatives that are set up in a “school setting”. Homeschoolers homeschool because public schools are failing kids. Over-crowded rooms, questionable curriculum and poor allocation of school funds are just a few reasons why parents look for alternatives.

FYI, According to the National Home Education Research Institute, homeschooled children usually score 15 to 30 percentile points above public school students on standardized tests.

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I guess I don’t understand. They pay taxes for public schools, so shouldn’t they have access to them?

So, would you argue for a parent who is homeschooling to be able to opt out of the property taxes that go directly to the school district in which they live? What about people who will have no children? They pay a tax for no benefit, in your calculation.

"According to this completely unbiased research institute, whose name may or may not be what they are putting out positive research about" lol

Great come back.. bravo.

You can if your property taxes fund the schools. Personally, I have no problem with this. The socialization will be good for the kids, who are sometimes heavily indoctrinated by Christian homeschool curriculum. It would be a benefit for them to meet other kids and be exposed to different points of view.

Great point. I don’t think opting out of property taxes is the answer. In this scenario, people that don’t have kids aren’t really part of the equation because they don’t have a dog in the fight. Here, property tax payers pay for a service to be provided to their children.. but aren’t able to because they disagree with other aspects of the education system. I guess I can put it this way.. you want a pizza.. but the only type being served is a supreme pizza. You hate mushrooms… why can’t you order it without mushrooms. BTW, I don’t have an answer.. I’m just curious what the logical counter arguments are. 👍

You don't have to play mainstream high school sports to get college sports scholarships, FYI. I know plenty of kids who have received baseball/softball and lacrosse full college rides but didn't play for their local school system.

Ok but I'm trying to understand why people are upset about it.

Taxes for school districts are not use taxes, rather they are public service taxes just like road, sales, and income taxes. While YOUR children (if any) may not be using the service, you as a member of the public ARE using said service. As YOU directly benefit from having public schools. We had this debate over a century ago when we first set up the mandatory public school system...

Wait, Bob Jones University press was indoctrination.

As somebody who has his kid in a homeschool co-op, has a family full of public school educators and support staff, and fully supports paying taxes for public schools by everyone, what these people want is nothing short of having your cake and eating it too.

There are lots of opportunities to add social enrichment to a homeschool program, they just cost money since they're not funded by public education money. These people just want the public education system to pay for their child's social enrichment.

Riiiiiight. In Missouri, homeschooled children are not required to take standardized tests.

Oh ok.. then to participate.. have them take a test. Too easy.

Mayyyyyybe.

Parents of homeschoolers already pay taxes for public schools while not getting the direct benefits from it. What's the problem?

They already are burdening the districts less by not having another kid to add to the headcount in a classroom.

Sorry for the late reply, never expected this blatant abuse of a system to generate hate, but your response is idiotic at best. You claim there is no burden. ABSOLUTELY a burden when an adult citizen is added to the rolls and has ZERO skills. DGAF about your taxes when your homeschooling ass don't even make enough to pay them.

1.You assume adults that homeschool their kids have no skills, but that's a hell of a biased assumption..

2. My kids go to a public school.

3. What's with the hostility? Do you have a specific axe to grind about the issue?

I appreciate you expounding here. Eh, you #1ed twice but I got you. I did not say that adults of homeschool have no skills. Let's get that right.

#2 Stoked your kids public school. Great. Grand. That what I went through.

#3 Yes I do. Public funds should not be held ransom by folk that CHOOSE not to participate. That's all.

Also, I just put # signs in front of digits, so my bad on the large font

A diversity of choice in what you participate in while already paying the taxes to support that is a problem? I dont understand how anything is held ransom. The taxes are being paid no matter what.

Im trying to give the against argument here a real fair shot, but often it seems peoples main issue boils down to specific religious grievances with it. Assuming there's no religious influence on the homeschooler, what's the issue if they play for the school soccer team?

It just seems deliberately mean spirited and spiteful to try to prevent them from doing so.

The savings to the state and federal budgets by homeschooling seem like a drop in the bucket compared to letting homeschooled kids participate in school activities, extracurriculars, sports, etc.

"Taxpayers spend an average of $15,240 per pupil annually in public schools, plus capital expenditures (National Education Association, 2021). The roughly 3.7 million homeschool students of 2020-21 represented a savings of over $56 billion for taxpayers. This is $56 billion that American taxpayers did not have to spend.c

Where have I mentioned religion? 🤦 If you want folk to engage with society, WELP, guess you gotta engage on society's terms.

Deliberately mean spirited and spiteful?! Delusional.