The COVID-19 shutdown of the public school system has led a growing number of parents to withdraw their kids from the public-school system in order to homeschool them. Not surprisingly, these schools are not going down with a fight. Many families are discovering, to their chagrin, that their former school won’t process the paperwork needed for formally withdraw their kids.
It’s not hard to see why the public school system is so desperate to keep students from leaving. A recent RealClear opinion research survey of over two thousand voters showed that a whopping 40% of them are more likely to take up homeschooling once the lockdown ends. As public districts receive funding based on the number of children in their schools, the massive move towards homeschooling would drastically cut funding at a time when many schools are facing multi-million-dollar shortfalls.
Public school advocates have already sent an open letter to former Vice President Joe Biden claiming that the “future of public education is at stake”. The letter includes a long list of demands that have nothing to do with addressing the many problems schools have encountered.
Educators are asking the presumed Democrat presidential nominee to promise an increase in funding, higher starting salaries for teachers, the cancellation of all student loan debt, and a ban on for-profit charter schools, colleges, and universities.
The far-left liberals who signed the letter aren’t asking for a direct ban on homeschooling (yet), but it’s not too far-fetched to see that such a ban could come about if the former VP manages to win the upcoming election.
Thankfully, desperate parents who want to pull their kids out of the public system can get help from homeschool organizations and advocates such as attorney T.J. Schmitt from the Home School Legal Defense Association. Schmidt has been in touch with many parents who are finding it difficult to pull their kids from public schools. He concedes that in some cases the schools have had a hard time processing the paperwork due to the shutdown, but also warns that many schools are pressuring parents to change their minds for their own purposes.
Public school districts throughout the United States are failing to provide children with a decent education. They are filling young minds with far-left propaganda. The COVID-19 shutdowns are, in many cases, the final nail in the coffin.
Parents who are now disgusted with the whole system will likely look into other educational options such as homeschooling, virtual schools, private schools, or charter schools. At the same time, public school districts who depend on these parents for needed funding will continue to fight back.
