It is almost that time again… back to school. My daughter starts Kindergarten this year and both older kids are attending a new school. All summer I have been vacillating the public versus homeschool choice. Both kids want to attend public schools but it makes me really nervous. Our experiences thus far have not been so great.
To make matters worse my local community is at war over a school levy that just failed. 51% of the community voted it down with the full understanding that if they did, our entire district would lose all sports, band, clubs, and buses. Kids have been coming to my door all month asking for help to get this issue passed. Last week I saw kids with signs on street corners trying to motivate people to vote for Issue 2. The kids in the community worked so hard to get their sports and music programs back and their loss makes me very sad. The papers keep showing pictures of kids crying when they heard the news. :(
Students are transferring out in droves so they can play sports for another school. Lots of coaches and teachers lost their jobs. Real Estate agents are getting hit with tons of new people trying to sell their homes so they can move to another district.
I have mixed feelings about this issue and I was secretly glad that I hadn’t remembered to change my voter’s information and couldn’t vote. Voting no would mean not supporting sports and music in the local schools but voting yes would mean voting to tax my neighbors an extra $250-500 per year for the next 4 years. This is one thing I cannot stand about Ohio. In Arizona we never heard about schools having money issues or hearing they were trying to place a levy our property taxes. In Ohio you can be sure that a couple times a year at least… some educational group or school wants to get their hands in your pocket.
Times are tough and I feel the schools should get back to the basics and concentrate on academics. They should also be forced to live within their budgets. When the community passes a levy they just overspend and need more a couple years later. But will it suck to go to school in a district that has no money for extras… sports, band, chess club, field trips, etc?? But then again isn’t it really a parent’s job to provide these things and not the community’s job? Or are these things integral to a well rounded education?
All of this drama makes homeschooling look pretty darn attractive but we shall see how it goes. In the meantime I have some questions for you…
Do you homeschool or utilize public schools? How and why did you come to that decision?
