Did you know there are over two million school age children being homeschooled today? The rate has doubled from the 1990s and is still growing (Clemmitt). According to the Department of Education, in Idaho nearly 8,770 out of 313,903 (which is roughly 3%) of school age children (5-17yrs) are homeschooled. This is higher than the national average of 2.5%. The number keeps on growing every year (Zeise). Yet, Idaho’s Fast Forward program, which gives money to high schoolers so they can take college classes while in high school, is only for public school students. This prevents those 8,770 students from getting financial help to take college classes.
If their parents or the homeschooler can’t afford to pay for the college classes, they won’t do it and won’t get the benefits of taking college classes while in high school. So, homeschoolers should be able to participate in Idaho’s Fast Forward program just like public schoolers can. Forward There are many reasons why homeschoolers should be able to participate in the Fast program.
The money for the Fast Forward program and public schools comes from taxes. According to the Idaho Department of Education website, there is no state help or exemptions for homeschool families. This means that parents pay just as much in taxes as public school families, and they don’t use the system! They are paying for something they don’t use and have no choice. Because of this fact, homeschoolers should be able to get the money for taking college classes while in high school that public school students get. They are paying for it, so why can’t they get some of it back. This is one reason why homeschoolers should be able to participate in Idaho’s Fast Forward program.
Another reason that homeschoolers should be able to participate in the Fast Forward program is that homeschool students getting money to help pay for college classes while in high school encourages them to do the program and get the benefits of it. In Idaho many teens are not going on to college after high school. Our rate is one of the lowest in the nation. Receiving money for college classes will encourage more students and homeschoolers to try dual enrollment. They will see what college is like and that they are capable of achievement in college. But if homeschool students don’t get the money they may see the cost of the college classes and think it’s not worth it.
They may wait until they finish high school to start college or not go to college at all because they don’t feel it’s a fit for them. They will miss the benefits of being able to take college classes while in high school. Some of the benefits are: getting college credits early, finding out your future career and other benefits. These benefits may be missed without the encouragement of financial aid. Also, colleges offer financial aid to regular college students and high schoolers taking college classes are generally considered college students, so they should be able to receive the same aid too. Another reason is that most colleges in Idaho allow homeschoolers who are in high school to take college classes just like they allow public school students to do the same.
This is not the case in many states. In Washington for example, you have to be in public school to take dual enrollment classes. But in Idaho homeschool students are able to take dual enrollment classes. Both types of students are required to show academic ability as the only requirement and approval from a counselor or parent. A few examples of colleges in Idaho that allow homeschoolers to take dual credit classes are: North Idaho College and Boise State University. Since homeschoolers can participate in taking college classes while in high school like public school students can, they should be able to receive the same money public school students can. Since they can do dual enrollment like public school students, why can’t they get aid, like public school students can? This does not seem right. Why are the policies different? Now, there is some opposition to this. An argument is that homeschool families can use the Idaho Virtual academy (Chase).
They can use this system, paid for by the government as a way of educating their children at home. This would be a use of their tax dollars. My response to this argument would be that from my own experience of being a homeschooler, many homeschool families don’t use this system because it is the same level as public school. Also, if the state is paying for a homeschool system, why can’t the state pay to help homeschoolers take college classes? Public school families pay taxes that go to the school or the Virtual Academy. Homeschool families pay taxes that go to the school or the Virtual Academy.
So they should both be able to get money for taking college classes as they both pay taxes for the education system. Another argument the opposing side may make is that the Fast Forward program will cost the state three million dollars (Smith). This is just giving money to public school students and costly. Then if the state pays for those 8,770 homeschool students that will cost a lot more money. It may cause some programs to be cut. My response would be that the state could hold a vote if the people want more money to go to the Fast Forward program in exchange for maybe cutting a program that isn’t used a lot.
The state could also formulate the budget in a way that doesn’t raise taxes or cut programs. Idaho is a balanced budget state. They should be able to add on a small cost to the already cost of the Fast Forward program. One of my main arguments for why homeschoolers should be able to participate in Idaho’s Fast Forward program is that public school students’ families and homeschool students’ families pay the same amount of taxes. So they should be able to get the same amount of aid. My other main reason was that most Idaho universities allow homeschoolers to take dual enrollment classes like public school students. However, they can’t get the same aid as public school students can. This does not make any logical sense. To solve this homeschoolers should write to the Idaho Department of Education, Superintendent Tom Luna, the Board of Education and the Senate Board of Education.
