Nicole Hart It sounds like you guys have tried a lot of options! Public school, private school, and home school.
It also sounds like your kids are getting to try tons of different activities, which is fantastic!
I don’t think any one option is best for every kid. Kate really flourishes in public school with all the socializing, Griffin prefers being home schooled.
Art and music are great for kids who like them, and miserable for those who don’t. Just like carpentry and welding aren’t for everyone, nor are sports. Kids should have a great deal of flexibility to try things and avoid stuff that they dislike and really pursue options they have passion for.
I would like every child to be able to pick and choose what works best for them, not just the children of the wealthy like us. I also want school bureaucrats and teachers that are not good to be held accountable and no children to have to suffer under them. School choice is what would give everyone the opportunities we have.
Nicole Hart Excellent questions! My thought is we just stick with the current bus system and kids can only get rides to their current school. If they go to a different school, their parents drop them off. Not perfect, but better than no options. Or separate the bus system from schools and make it a general bus system for anyone to use? That might be biting off too much.
What would you do to enhance the school system we have, which has been steadily declining in performance for 20-30 years? How are you going to directly fight the massively powerful and entrenched union interests that will fight any changes or accountability?
Why should kids who home school get zero support? No money for curriculum materials or activities despite paying massive taxes for it? Why would that $17,000 per child stay entirely with the school which does not have to pay anything to support that child? That does not make sense to me?
I am not saying get rid of public schools… just let each family decide what is best for them. The vast majority of kids probably will still choose their local public school.
Research a little into what forms of accountability there are for teachers and administrators and talk to some of them. Pay is SOLELY based on years in the system, not performance. The union will fight you to death before giving that up. Teachers can only be fired basically for committing crimes, not for incompetence. Research how many teachers were fired in the Washington and Oregon school systems versus how many teachers there are. The administrators union is probably even worse. This is the core reason why public schools fail. But all reform attempts have been crushed by the unions which are extremely powerful politically. It is far easier to give kids school choice to get out of those bad situations then attempt to fight monstrously powerful unions that control most of the government and have most politicians of both parties in their pockets.