Lost enrollment this year, Fairfax and Prince William counties with highest losses. Duh?? Virginia does not keep track of private school enrollment-according to article I read. Be interesting to see what happens after Youngkin takes office. Parents are pissed and rightly so.
VIRGINIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
- Thread starter polar80
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It’s been awhile, but when my youngest was in public school, there was a similar exodus. A school official told me they lost $5,000 per student of state funding. 200 students = $1.0 million of lost budget. And that was many years ago. Paying for two kids to go thru 12 years of private schools wasn’t cheap either. That was after tax take home dollars that I could have put to use in my 401K or used for a decent vacation. But the liberals consider all this as acceptable collateral damage for their thirst for control.
I'm not in VA but all of our local catholic schools had major bumps in enrollment last 2 years. So much so they have a waiting list...first time ever.
Ive been told it hit really hard in 1st - 3rd grades. Kids were in virtual school but private schools stayed open - easy decision. One elementary school lost an equivalent to nearly a whole classroom.
We almost made the jump, but we have 4 kids and while the elementary/middle school tuition is manageable, the local private high school is at a university level tuition rate and its hard for me to swallow.
If things arent improved by the time my 3rd enters kindergarten, she and younger sibling will do private school. We decided the two older children were too embedded into their schools (friends, sports, familiarity), to remove them.
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When you home school children, does it also take away school funding from the county? This needs to be considered as a way of getting back at school boards that do not listen to the parents nor have a care in the world about any issues.
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My wife grad from North Cross here in Roanoke. She wanted them there. 13 years of private schooling and now 5 years of college, daughter is in her third and son in his 5th. Way too expensive for this 67 year old. I'm thinking of selling my kidney and my wife's.
I believe the school district loses the funding.
Funding is based on number of students within a district. So a homeschooler would not be counted, but the money doesnt go back to the student/parent. It's redirected into the ether.
My sister lives in PA and was going to enroll her children into a cyber charter school during the school closures. That funding for students goes to the cyber/charter school.
The school district's countered by developing their own "cyber academies", which were also 100% virtual, but the money stayed within the school district - but here is the rub, the cyber academies weren't taught or staffed by the school district teachers. Its basically an consortium that runs cyber programs for school districts. They sold it has local education in your own school district but it was totally bogus.
Last school year I was outspoken on this issue...if you are putting a kid in a cyber program do it out of district. Because you need to hit them in their wallets to make it worthwhile.
It was a bigger decision for us than $$. There were many tensions in the community that were getting expressed in the schools. As many voted with their feet and entered private schools, those remaining in public schools began to see other issues increase in severity with a larger portion of students coming from difficult home situations.
In the lower schools, there were quite a few students that had not gone to pre school and they held class speeds back. There were also students with poor home lifes and single parent families. Some of these posed behavior issues in the classroom. Imagine my frustration when I saw the teacher had place my child between two of them because she did not participate in their antics. Also, the school admin mainstreamed some of the weaker student to challenge them. What it didn’t’t do was challenge my child. It slowed and bored her.
In the upper private school, there were some issues as well. In a small town, they were limited in some of the advanced math and science classes they could offer. And finally, our private school was slow to offer classes from colleges. AP courses were available, but the required score of 5 for college credit was often hard to hit and the student only gets one shot at the test. So we moved her her senior year to a larger private school 25 miles east of us.
Grade school is about $19k per year per child. High school kicks up to $25k per year per child. There are a couple of other schools where it’s $30k/$35k annually.
Don’t figure we really need to save for college. It’s just in our annual budget. Unless they go somewhere really private out of state, I think we’ll be fine. In some cases, college will be cheaper than lower school.
Id rather shoot myself in the dick than pay $100K per year in private school tuition.
There’s a reason why I don’t have the 58’ Weaver sitting down in Costa Rica right now. All because my wife wanted a couple of **** trophies. Little bastards are expensive.
I like that idea, but I believe kids need interactions & different logical opinions. I'm for private schools & school vouchers. If cant afford private home school is fine
All three of my grandchildren are home schooled...my daughter was a public school teacher in Anne Arundel County MD.
I have advocated for all of the grandchildren to attend public schools. I think the interaction and school experiences are invaluable.
My daughter and son overruled me on that one...my son did send his two girls to private school before his wife started home schooling.
I will say that all three of the kids are light years ahead of most of their public school peers.