COLUMBIA — A Spartanburg County legislator has introduced a bill that would require school districts to reimburse tax money to parents who homeschool their children.
Ralph Davenport, R-Boiling Springs, says school districts collecting taxes from parents whose children are homeschooled is unjust.
“It’s very unfair that someone is paying taxes to a school district and have to pay for the costs of homeschooling their children,” Davenport said. “The tax dollars should follow the children. Not the school district.”
The bill, which would be based on per pupil expenses by district, could have severe financial consequences for some school districts.
District 6, for example, has 147 students who are homeschooled. At $5,589 per pupil, Spartanburg County School District 6 could lose about $800,000 a year.
Homeschool families like Davenport’s plan, but local educators are opposed to it.
“I think it would be a help because we do pay school taxes,” said Lucy Anne Adams, who homeschools her son, Jake. She also home schooled her older son, Luke, until he entered Woodruff High School as a freshman this year, where he is second in his class.
“It would encourage those of us who do the work,” Adams said. “We’re kind of like unpaid teachers.”
Adams said she pays about $1,000 a year for curriculum materials. She tries to be frugal and use library materials whenever possible.
Some educators believe the school system should only pick up the tab for those services if the children attend the schools.
“If you want us to spend money on your child, put them in school,” said Carol Gardner, assistant superintendent for instruction in Spartanburg District 7.
District 6 Superintendent David Eubanks believes that families accept the financial responsibility when they decide to home school their children or send them to public school.
“When a parent makes that decision, they should not be placed in a position where they make money,” he said. “It’s like taking another job.”
And the money the school district loses would add up, Eubanks said.
“That’s almost $1 million. That’s 20 teachers,” Eubanks said. “Students who were left in the public schools would suffer because the money would be siphoned off.”
Eubanks also worries that parents could take advantage of the system by moving to a school district with a higher per-pupil expenditure.
For example, a family living in District 2 would be reimbursed $5,330, according to state Department of Education figures on per-pupil expenditures for 1999-2000.
But by moving a few miles south to District 3, the family would be reimbursed $8,337 — $3,007 more per child.
Davenport believes the bill has a chance of becoming a law because some legislators have been supportive of it.
Still, he expects a tough fight from school districts.
“People in the school district bureaucracy are going to fight against it tooth and nail,” Davenport said. “I don’t think we’ll get it done this year.”
By law, any parent in South Carolina with a high school degree or a GED can home school his child.
Families can operate a home school with the approval of their local school board or as a member of a local accountability group.
The Upstate Association of Homeschools (TUAH), is the state’s second largest accountability group. Its membership – which covers the 864 area code — has almost quadrupled in five years. The numbers have grown from 547 in 1996-97 to 2,000 this school year.
Families who home school are required to submit semiannual reports, lesson plans or a journal and an attendance record to the accountability group.
Beyond that, the families are free to structure their lessons and choose their curriculum as they see fit.