What do fellow homeschoolers think of this?

Question

In my state legislation, there is a bill trying to advocate homeschoolers to participate in extracirricular activities at public schools, such as music, drama and athletics.

There was much advocacy for it, and only one testimony against, it was from the DOE. Their main claim was that homeschoolers "opt to stay out of the whole public school experience".

I am all for this bill, but what are your opinions on the bill?

Answer 1

I'd be for it as well.

In our state (PA) by law your kids are allowed to participate, since you pay the taxes for public schools just the same as parents that have students attending that school.  although alot of the schools wont, or try not to, adhere to that.  there have been several lawsuits against school districts that refuse.

Right now, our state is in a fight against the Byer bill, that wants to decrease the percentage of money a charter or cyber school gets from the school district per child (even when you HS, or send your kid to private or charter, the district keeps 15 to 25% of the per child cost).  If they are going to keep MORE of the money paid to them per child, then my child should be entitled to even more of their programs!  not likely to happen tho lol

Answer 2

We are allowed to participate in activities in Florida. My daughter actually even takes a few classes at the local High school we are zoned for.

To answer Gulpys concerns, here if your private school does not offer sports, you are allowed to go to the public school you are zoned for. If you want to "out of zone" to another school, you have to get approval and have a good reason. So you cant just pick the school with the better activities.

This has been good for our family in our situation. But I can understand why all families wouldn't want to do it. My second daughter may not have the maturity required to handle the public school atmosphere, but my oldest is doing fine and actually being a great influence, instead of the other way around. It has been good for my oldest to put her faith and morals to practice in a way that I can still guide her.

Answer 3

I would say that if people wanted to take advantage of it, that's fine for them. I probably would not, but our community has every extracurricular activity that a school could provide, through parks and rec dept, museums and local private organizations.

I think that the bill is fair, because parents *are* still paying taxes to cover educational services, but then again, so are single adults, those without children, and the elderly. That argument would suggest that anyone be allowed to utilize those activities.

I did notice that the bill did not cover funding, which is tricky. It does mention that the principal has the ability to decide if the homeschooling parents are following the law and allow or restrict activities. That has the potential for abuse as well.

Answer 4

Hmm, DOE is stating  homeschoolers should stay out of public schools, huh? Well, those homeschooled kids parents are PAYING THEIR SALARIES!!

I can see both sides to this, but for me personally, with all the bad things going on in schools, the drugs , bullying, fighting, killing, etc

my child would NEVER set foot back in a public school AGAIN.  Yes my children WERE in public school and it was horrible.

If people are homeschooling because public is bad, why would they want their child to go there at all??

Answer 5

I actually disagree with it. Even though I'm a homeschooling parent.

I don't know about where you live and perhaps that's going to make a difference in the reasoning, but where I live, every homeowner pays education tax. It doesn't matter if you have kids or not, if you're 80 or not, if your kids go to private school or not. You have to pay the taxes.

Should kids who attend private schools be allowed to go over to the public schools and participate in the extracurricular activities there? Not in my opinion. Or how about a student from one public school heading over to a different public school after school to participate in the extra-curriculars there--because the 2nd school has better activities? I would disagree with that, as well.

The extracurricular activities were set up for the students of the school in question. My personal opinion is that if you are not attending that school, you should not expect to be allowed to participate. I would agree with a law that states that homeschooled students may be allowed to participate with the school principal's permission, but more than that... I don't see why schools should be obligated to accept non-attending students for their after-school activities.

Answer 6

i'm all for it. I think that homeschoolers should be able to participate in school activites. Just because they don't sit in the same classroom doesn't mean they shouldn't do those activities. Another thing is that alot of people think that homeschoolers aren't social [at least where i'm from that's what they say] and the problem with that is they aren't social because they schools won't allow it. So yes they should be able to participate in sports, and other activities.

Answer 7

I don't have an opinion one way or the other - we live in a fairly large metro area where pretty much everything available in the public school is available to homeschoolers privately.  Many homeschoolers are opposed to this type of thing because it COULD lead to more regulation of ALL homeschoolers (more testing, more oversight).  The schools will want to ensure that the homeschool kids who are participating are "making the grade".  And since we're testing these homeschoolers, why don't we just make it mandatory for all of them.  

A little off topic, but still related, as some have mentioned property taxes:

As Glurpy pointed out, where we live most people (homeowners or renters) pay property taxes to the schools, whether they have kids in the school or not (exemptions are available for seniors, disabled, etc. here).  Yes, renters pay property taxes, too - they're just paid by the building- or home-owner out of the rent that is paid.

I don't have a problem paying property taxes, even though my kids don't go to school - not everyone can (or should) homeschool and I believe it is my duty as a citizen of this country to help out those who aren't as fortunate.  As Thomas Jefferson said:

"If we're going to have a successful democratic society, we have to have a well educated and healthy citizenry"

Since I'd rather have semi-literate public school graduates voting than completely illiterate dolts, I'll continue to support the public schools with my tax dollars - like I have a choice!  :>)

Answer 8

I agree with it.  Just because homeschoolers don't go to a classroom for their academics doesn't mean that they shouldn't have access to other programs.  We pay just as much in taxes to support the schools as anyone else!

I just think it's funny that the DOE would fight to exclude homeschoolers from the programs...their whole argument about homeschooling is that hs kids don't have the involvement that ps kids do, lol!  Well, here's their chance to do something about that.

We don't personally participate in ps programs, but that's only because there is a large percentage of homeschooling families in our area, and there are resources set up for any extracurricular our kids could want.  We have hs sports teams that play in the city leagues against public and private school teams, hs competitive teams that do the same thing; PE, music, and arts classes set up through the parks and rec; hs band and choir; hs prom; yearbooks and yearbook clubs; graduation ceremonies; and more.  However, if those options weren't available in our area, I would be all for my son participating in them at the local school.

Just because he doesn't learn to his potential in a classroom doesn't mean that he should be excluded from all other activities.  I think the DOE needs to brush up on their logic!

Answer 9

I think that homeschoolers should be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities at public schools.  I was homeschooled from 7th -12th grade and the local public schools wouldn't allow me to join JROTC or FFA.  I was told I had to attend the school full time to join.  I bet I could have fought their arguments, but I didn't and found other places to spend my time.  

Public schools after all ARE public.  Anyone can attend.  So their extra curricular activities should be the same way.

Answer 10

Our state has such a law on the books now. In Maine, it is a big pain to have your kid participate in school sports. I lived in a small town, and that school distict was very open to homeschoolers. On the other hand, we just moved to a larger city and are fighting to get my daughter on the soccer team. The school has been very uncoopertive, even though there is a law on the books.

Answer 11

I think there are two sides to it.  On one hand, we do pay taxes and should have the opportunity to take advantage of programs our tax dollars pay for.  On the other hand, I am concerned that participation in public school programs will open homeschoolers up for futher government scrutiny and control.

We do not use any public services and I'm not sure if we are able to in our area.  However we have many homeschoolers and available programs in our area so participation in public school programs really isn't necessary for us.

It will be interesting to see where this road leads.  Thanks for posting that info!

Answer 12

Just because they don't want to spend 7 hours a day drowned in sick kids, swearing and boredom doesn't mean Home schooling kids don't want to spend a little time learning music or playing baseball! :-)

Answer 13

In my city, homeschoolers can take a class or two or participate in sports and such in public schools, and for a lot of people it works out fine.

I do understand the DOE's argument, however if the point is that public schools are there for the people-- the taxpayers-- to use, and are really intended to benefit the children, then people should be able to take advantage of them in a way that they want, and if the school's real concern is what is in the best interest of the child, you would think they'd want to work something out with homeschoolers.