Reply #240: I'm not so sure about that. [View All]

I think taxpayers should expect some value for what they pay in taxes.

I wouldn't expect NY DOE to bend over backwards, but there should be some give and take, for example:

There should be some certification process for parents. That'll shut a lot of people up about what I like to call 'homeskool.' You don't meet the minimum requirements - your kids take their asses to public school, end of story.

The curriculum should be subject to review by the state DOE, and should meet certain minimum standards.

The kids get tested BY THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT every year. You do not get to proctor the test. You don't get to watch your kids take the test, or be in the same room. You wait in the waiting area until the kids are done, the STATE, not you, get to evaluate the results, and if the kids don't pass, your homeschool program goes 'poof.'

What the local district should provide to YOU is the loan of any and all textbooks and other class materials the other kids get to use. The cost for running off copies of course outlines is minimal, and besides, YOU paid for the damn things. You SHOULD be able to use them. In my ideal school district, all this stuff would be online anyway, so nobody would have to worry about the 59 cents' worth of copier toner.

Since use of science labs requires supervision and contains certain potentially hazardous materials, schools should be exempt from allowing homeschoolers to use them. Sorry. You can't have everything in Why's Libertarian Socialist Republic.

Your kids should be eligible to sit for the Regents exams on an equal basis with his public school counterparts. There is NO reason why homeschoolers should not be eligible to get a Regents diploma. None at all. You can homeschool yourself through college via Excelsior College or SUNY Empire State College and get a real diploma, why can't someone who successfully homeschools through high school?

So, what would the result be if Why were to get elected Governor and his progressive, common-sense platform is implemented? Well, you wouldn't have quite as many people doing their kids injustice by subjecting them to ill-run homeschool programs, but you would have the remaining programs much better organized because parents get the guidance they've been screaming for and the oversight they need to keep everything above board.