When parents choose Texas public schools, the state provides a significant percentage of that child’s tuition. However, if the district school is not a good fit (for example, extremely high IQ students) and parents make the hard decision to home school their child or send them to a private school, the state does not allocate any funding for these students. The state, in essence, gets away without having to provide ANY per-pupil funding for these students. This creates a perverse incentive for the budget writers to actually WANT students out of the public school system.
I understand why the state would be hesitant to provide home school parents with the funding that would have been spent on their child and I understand that the state is hesitant to provide funding to private schools without a private school accountability system in place. However, it seems wrong to refuse to allocate ANY public education funding for these students. As a suggestion, we might put these funds in a college savings fund for these students. If parents did not want access to these funds, they could be used to improve education funding for low-income students or students with special needs.
I believe the Texas legislature needs to allocate education funding for all K-12 students in Texas, whether they attend a public school or not. If you agree, please sign this petition!
