40% of parents say they would choose a regular public school for their child. However, approximately 90% of Virginia’s K-12 students attend regular public schools.[2]- 39% of K-12 parents say they would like to send their child to a private school. In reality, approximately 9% of Virginia’s K-12 students attend private schools.[3]
- 11% of parents in the survey would prefer to homeschool their children. According to data collected by the Virginia Department of Education, close to 2% of school-age children are homeschooled.[4]
- 8% of parents say they would like to send their child to a charter school. Currently there are only three charter schools in operation in Virginia, serving approximately 190 students.[5]
Strong Support for School Choice
- By Yvonne Bunn, HEAV director of homeschool support and legislative affairs
Although 90% of Virginia’s school-age population attend government schools, many families would change that if they could.
According to a newly released study, School Choice Survey: Virginia’s Opinion on K-12 Education and School Choice (released by the Friedman Foundation in November 2009), Virginia parents support educational freedom and school choice.
39% of the parents with children in public school would choose another form of education, while 40% are satisfied with their child’s education. The survey results reveal a major disconnect between the preferences of parents and actual school enrollments.[1]
The survey also reveals many parents have succumbed to the “not-my-school” syndrome. The same survey participants who believe there are problems with the government-run system don’t think things are as bad in their child’s school as in other schools. 62% of Virginians believe their school is “good” or “excellent.” But if given the chance to send their children to a private or charter school, or to homeschool, then 54% said they would make a change. Residents in Northern Virginia shared the most positive views of government schools (70%).
Interestingly, the survey indicates a majority (65%) of tax-paying survey participants underestimate how much it costs to educate public school children in Virginia. 19% believe it costs less than $3,000, and 28% believe it costs between $3,001 and $6,000. In reality, the average cost to educate a child in Virginia in 2007 was close to $12,000 per student.
The entire survey can be reviewed here.
[1] The subgroup “K-12 Parents” makes up 31% of the total survey sample (n=367).
[2] Regular public school enrollment (2007-2008) obtained from the Virginia Department of Education (VDE): http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/dbpubs/Fall_Membership/2007/readme.htm.
[3] Private school enrollment estimate obtained from Stephen Broughman, Nancy Swaim, and Patrick Keaton, Characteristics of Private Schools in the United States: Results From the 2007-08 Private School Universe Survey (NCES 2009-313). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences (U.S. Department of Education. 2009), Table 15.
[4] Homeschooling data from the document posted on the Virginia Department of Education website: http://www.heav.org/assets/files/law/Homeschool-Numbers-2008-2009.pdf.
[5] Virginia’s charter school information obtained on the Virginia Department of Education website: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/OCP/charterschools.html.
annemiller @ December 16, 2009 | General | Comments (0)
New Study: Home-Educated Canadian Adults Excel
Our thanks to Brian D. Ray, Ph.D., president of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), for letting us know of this survey. It shares what many others have shared — home education works! – Katherine
By Patrick B. Craine
LONDON, Ontario, December 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new study released yesterday by the Canadian Centre for Home Education (CCHE) reveals that home-educated adults in Canada excel in all measured areas of adult life, including education level, religious observance, civic and community participation, life satisfaction, and income.
The study, entitled Fifteen Years Later: Home-Educated Canadian Adults, surveyed adults whose parents had responded to a 1994 study on home education. In total, the researchers collected 226 questionnaires. Ranging in age from 15 to 34, the respondents answered questions on a variety of topics for which Statistics Canada has comparable data from the wider population.
The results were astounding, says CCHE.
The study found that, when measured against the Canadian average, home-educated adults were more socially engaged and almost twice as likely to have voted in a federal election. Their average income was higher, with more self-reliant sources of income, such as investments and self-employment. In fact, of all respondents, there were no cases of government support as the primary source of income.
The respondents were happier in their work and about their lives in general. They also have more varied recreational pursuits. The study notes, for example, that the respondents “were much more likely than the comparable population to have read books and attended concerts of classical music or theatrical performances.” Overall, when reflecting on the value of being home-educated, most felt that it was an advantage in their adult life.
“In terms of income, education, entrepreneurial endeavours, involvement in their community, and all the other characteristics measured, home-educated adults not only excel, but also make meaningful contributions to their communities,” stated Paul Faris, president of CCHE. “They are the type of neighbours we all want.”
The full study and a synopsis are available here.
Blog @ December 16, 2009 | International Homeschooling | Comments (0)
Fathers Jailed in Germany for Opting Out of Sex-Ed Class
It’s easy to take our freedoms for granted — this article reminds us we live in a world that clearly recognizes the importance of training the next generation and wants to take that responsibility from parents. Please take a moment to pray for our brothers and sisters in Germany, that God would keep them strong and win the battles for them. – Katherine
Note: More details can also be found at this LifeSiteNews.com article: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09121108.html
The Salzkotten 8, Salzkotten, NorthRhineWestphalia, 10 December 2009
The attack against Christian families seeking to have some input into the
education their children receive in Germany is continuing. A number of
Russian-German families in an elementary school in this community are
withholding their children from attending Sex education classes. They have
also withheld their children from participating in a theater play, My Body
Belongs to Me, that teaches the children how to engage in sex.
There are 8 families involved. Each father of these families will be sent to
prison. The father of the one family was the first. He has spent 7 days in
prison and will be released tomorrow.
The state has fined these families several times, and the fines continue to
accrue. This is not a normal punitive fine but rather a special fine called
Bussgeld (literally called repentance money) that is designed to show
contrition for a wrong behavior on the part of the person being fined. The
time spent in prison does not count toward paying off the fine.
The Russian-German families refuse to pay their fines because by so doing
they would admit their guilt of a wrong behavior. Prison is all about
forcing them to comply — first to pay their fines and second to comply
with compulsory school attendance, which includes attendance and
participation in all classes.
Schuzh and IHRG Attorneys Gabriele and Armin Eckermann are acting as these
families legal advisors.
Richard Guenther
European Director, IHRG
Additionally from Joel Thornton, President, IHRG:
This type of persecution from German government officials against the
Salzkotten 8 shows how committed the German system is to punishing home
school families and others who do not comply with the compulsory education
laws, even when they are only removing their children from a single clearly
objectionable class.
Unlike American officials, German officials do not recognize the right of
parents to opt their children out of offensive classes such as sex education
which overrides the parents’ beliefs or desires for their own children.
One of the reasons for this is that German officials view the children as
belonging to the State, particularly during the time they are in school.
The IHRG has decided to take a more radical approach to the situation in
Germany. Early next year, January or February, we will be filing a civil
law suit on behalf of a number of home school families to try and force the
court to recognize the rights of parents to control the education of their
children. We will not continue to only react to these forceful actions by
state officials against these families.
To my knowledge, this is the first time these families have been public
about the persecution they are facing.
Please pray for the Salzkotten 8 families in this time of persecution.
Blog @ December 16, 2009 | International Homeschooling | Comments (0)
Hearing for Homeschooler Forced into Gov’t System
By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a 10-year-old homeschool girl who has been ordered into a government-run school because she was too “vigorous” in defense of her Christian faith.
As WND reported, a girl identified in court documents as “Amanda” had been described as “well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level.”
Nevertheless, a New Hampshire court official determined that she would be better off in public school rather than continuing her homeschool education.
The August decision from Marital Master Michael Garner reasoned that Amanda’s “vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view.”
The recommendation was approved by Judge Lucinda V. Sadler, but it is being challenged by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, who said it was “a step too far” for any court.
The ADF filed motions with the court on Aug. 24 seeking reconsideration of the order and a stay of the decision sending the 10-year-old student in government-run schools in Meredith, N.H. On Sept. 17, a lower-court judge refused to reconsider or stay the order.
The denial of the motions, signed by Judge Sadler of the Family Division of the Judicial Court for Belknap County in Laconia, states, “Amanda is at an age when it can be expected that she would benefit from the social interaction and problem solving she will find in public school, and granting a stay would result in a lost opportunity for her.”
Court claims Amanda would benefit from public school
The dispute arose as part of a modification of a parenting plan for the girl. The parents divorced in 1999 when she was a newborn, and the mother has homeschooled her daughter since first grade with texts that meet all state standards.
In addition to homeschooling, the girl attends supplemental public-school classes and has also been involved in a variety of extracurricular sports activities, the ADF reported.
But during the process of negotiating the terms of the plan, a guardian ad litem appointed to participate concluded the girl “appeared to reflect her mother’s rigidity on questions of faith” and that the girl’s interests “would be best served by exposure to a public-school setting” and “different points of view at a time when she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief … in order to select, as a young adult, which of those systems will best suit her own needs.”
According to court documents, the guardian ad litem earlier had told the mother, “If I want her in public school, she’ll be in public school.”
The guardian ad litem had an anti-Christian bias, the documents said, telling the mother at one point she wouldn’t even look at homeschool curriculum.
“I don’t want to hear it. It’s all Christian-based,” she said.
The marital master who heard the case proposed the Christian girl be ordered into public school after considering “the impact of [her religious] beliefs on her interaction with others.”
“Courts can settle disputes, but they cannot legitimately order a child into a government-run school on the basis that her religious views need to be mixed with other views. That’s precisely what the lower court admitted it is doing in this case, and that’s where our concern lies,” ADF-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons said in a statement.
Simmons said the court wrongly interfered with Amanda’s education plan after admitting the child was sociable and “academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level.”
“[B]ut then it ordered her out of the homeschooling she loves so that her religious views will be challenged at a government school,” Simmons explained. “That’s where the court went too far.”
Now the New Hampshire Supreme Court will hear the case. ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson said the lower court is setting a dangerous standard.
“We are concerned anytime a court oversteps its bounds to tread on the right of a parent to make sound educational choices, or to discredit the inherent value of the homeschooling option,” Johnson sad. “The lower court effectively determined that it would be a ‘lost opportunity’ if a child’s Christian views are not sifted and challenged in a public-school setting. We regard that as a dangerous precedent.”
Blog @ December 8, 2009 | Legislative | Comments (0)