The Levy Lie

                                                       

A thoughtful article by our own: Michelle Svensson


Early this afternoon the doorbell goes off, all the dogs go barking and I throw on a sweatshirt to answer the door and calm the mob. I look like a train has hit me, or I’ve been bit by a zombie. I know I sound like one for sure. You see, I’ve had a bad head cold for a couple of days and am running low on sleep. I know I have makeup under my eyes, and to be honest, I probably don’t smell like roses, but answer the door I must- whoever it is can take me as I am.

I see two smiling ladies in red and instantly I know they are here to get my support for Milford’s school levy. (Go Eagles!) They ask me if I have any questions, to which I smile and manage to muster out a guttural, “no thanks, we already know how we’re going to vote” -I sound like someone with a voice box implant- “Then can I ask if we have your support?”, the woman on the right asks. “No, you don’t.” It sounds flat and even rude to my own ears- but what can I say, I’m sick- so I feel like I owe an explanation… “We believe in homeschooling,” I add, which still doesn’t seem like enough. So, I follow that with, “Just didn’t want to seem like we’re rude, stingy people.” “Oh, we’d never think that!” she replies…

Well, actually you do. I’ve heard it with my own ears from people in support of levies for years. This isn’t a new thing and it isn’t a local thing. It happens sometimes even twice a year, all over America- the dreaded school levy ballot. In my years, and I’m 29, I have seen the levy fail during the broad elections and then get put on again for spring voting, “Wait, didn’t we just vote on that, you think we changed our minds that fast?” "Well yeah, because we cut the busing, and figured people would be tired of driving their kids to school. We didn’t cut the busing because that is the area where we need the funding the most, but rather we use it as a manipulating tactic because we know it works."

They aren’t going to tell you that, and while most of us can see past this ruse, it still works because, frankly, not many people have the time to pick-up and drop off their kids at school. But, here I am losing track… When I closed the door I began to think, "Why should people have to explain the fact that they don’t want to pay (roughly) another $125 a year to the schools?" Every time there was a levy when I was a child the teachers constantly told us, “Make sure your parents vote for the levy because if they don’t we won’t having busing or field trips anymore!” Make sure? I’m 12, so what kind of tactics am I supposed to use on my parents to “make sure” they vote the way you want them to? I guess the same tactic that gets me the toy I want for Christmas… What? This doesn’t make sense. Kids are impressionable, if you tell them something, they’ll often believe it, so using kids to influence a vote seems like bad form.

But again, I wonder, why is it that across the board, people with less liberal views are touted as “stingy and mean”? When more often than not, people voting to keep their hard earned money, know the value of money and how to spend it wisely. They believe that you should prove to do well with what you have before you are given more. The budget for Milford School District is close to $67,000,000. There are roughly 6,300 students in this district. That means that the cost per student is $10,635 per year. Granted, I understand that much of that goes toward building maintenance etc…  But does that include the cost to buy, maintain, and run the flat screen tv’s that play throughout the school all day long? Unless you work at or have a student at the high school, you might not be aware of how far modern technology has taken over our schools.Now, the junior high is requiring every student bring their own laptop or tablet to school and do their homework online at home. Laptops are expensive. So is high speed internet. I like computers as much as the next person, but there comes a time as parents when you have to tell your kids, “no, I’m sorry, we can’t afford for you to have the latest video gaming system, you’ll have to get along with the one you have.” When you can’t afford something, you don’t buy it. That’s how I was raised. And if you need it bad enough, you work hard to earn it. If something breaks, you fix it, you don’t throw it out and by a new one.

That doesn’t make me stingy; it makes me responsible. It prepares me for the future, and saving instead of spending. The very values that we should be teaching our children are being thrown out and in their place is the non-value of “I want, I need, I have to have this to keep up with the kids next door.”

I would like to propose a new way of funding for the schools. Go ahead and put the levies on the ballot and make sure everyone knows how much would be coming out of their pockets, as I stated earlier, ours would be roughly $125. Anyone who wanted to vote FOR the levy leaves a check in that amount. If the levy passes, then they will have already paid theirs. If it failes, the money is still given to the schools because those people really want to help the schools out. “Well, wait a minute, that’s not fair, why should I have to pay if everyone else isn’t?” Good question. I don’t have any children and if and when I do I will homeschool them so the coin can easily be flipped. Fairness looks very different from all sides.

                                                     

When I was a child being homeschooled was looked down upon and VERY discouraged. When my mom went to take my sister and I out of the public school system every teacher and principle she came in contact with told her she was a bad parent, and treated her like garbage. I wondered why that was, but I understand now why. If you were to witness the application process of the welfare program you would be shocked at how accommodating the case workers are. They will bend over backwards to get people any kind of benefit they qualify for. I used to wonder at that too. Wouldn’t they want to make it hard on people so they could save money? No, for the simple reason that the more benefits and programs they get people signed up for, the more FUNDING they get. The same goes for public schools.  In 2008/2009 each school across the country received federal funding anywhere from $5,000- $19,000 per student per year (http://febp.newamerica.net/k12/rankings/ppexpend ) based on proficiency tests.

Now I see. I’m guessing that was slightly less in 1996 when I was being homeschooled and my mom was getting bashed by teachers, but still, they saw it as affront. So of course public schools look down upon homeschoolers, they cause them to lose their precious funding.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that EVERY child is entitled to a quality education, my way of going about it is slightly different then mainstream though. When people see a need and they have their own money put back in their own pockets, all of these very giving liberal people will give. Man kind is good, they care, they are giving. If given the chance they will see to it that privately funded charities will educate children who’s parents are unable. I’ll be the first to step up, or even take in and homeschool one of these children along side my own, or even better, help make a way so that their parents would be able to do so themselves.

 You see, I believe that parents who are even considering providing for their child’s education themselves should be encouraged and praised! They should be put at the top of the social status ladder and not because they can afford private schools. What about parents who see it as a God given privilege to be hands on in their child’s learning? You tell someone you homeschool and they have a knee jerk reflex to attack you with questions of fear about all the reasons why they have “heard” homeschooling is actually “bad” for children. At the top of that being that they will be socially inept. This is the biggest load of bunk the public schools want you to believe. Just because you once knew this one family who had one son who was totally awkward and they homeschooled does not go for every homeschool family out there.

EVERY homeschooled child I have EVER come across was smart, witty, fun, and able to hold an intelligent conversation with any adult. Sadly, I cannot say that about every public school educated child. As a matter of fact, it is RARE for me to come across a public school child with those same traits. On the contrary, I am often sadly dismayed that many won’t look me in the eye, and are only able to give one, two, or three word replies when I speak with them and those are often prompted by their parents to do so. They are more interested in leaving the “adult” conversations in favor of a handheld video game. Sure they “grow out if it”… most of the time.

Now I don’t want to bash parents using public education, I’m not calling them out or saying they are bad parents, but rather I am standing up and praising those who have broken out of the mold and are taking their child’s education into their own hands, right where God put it in the first place. I am noticing a trend that the more I speak out praising these parents, the more I hear from the other side that they are offended at this. Why? If Suzy puts in more time, sacrifice and effort then Sally and comes out with a better project, then why should Suzy not be praised? This too is a mentality that is taking root in the public school system, that all kids should be praised equally no matter how hard they try. This is not the way the real world works and we are setting our kids up for failure by encouraging it. All kids should be praised but those that try harder than others should be rewarded.

A family with four children, who chooses to homeschool K-12 (let say using Milford’s cost per student) saves the system $510,480. Why on earth should that NOT be praised!? But wait, look at all the funding their school district didn’t get because they didn’t send their kids to public school! What!?

I could go on and on about the quality of education- homeschool verses public, or how a homeschooler wins the national spelling bee almost every year… but I won’t. I will leave you with the issue I started with. If I choose not to vote for the levy, I am not stingy, I tell you I believe in homeschooling because the numbers don’t lie, I believe in SAVING the system drastically huge numbers like the one above.