In the stir and hubbub around the new Parental Choice Tax Credit and last year’s report on the Idaho Home Learning Academy, let’s not lose sight of a central reality: Homeschoolers, private schoolers, and charter schoolers save the state millions of dollars every year and do so without complaining or whining. According to the recent Bluum Report on Education in Idaho, the average public school student in Idaho costs taxpayers around $13,000 per year, with about $8,500 coming from state sources and the remainder from local and federal sources. Education is not cheap, as we all know. And yet, the families that the media and many naysaying public educators are blasting away at have been doing the Lord’s work. Consider the simple financial facts, starting with homeschoolers and private schoolers.
Up until this year the state provided zero financial support for these families. They shouldered all their own costs of time and treasure, sacrificing second incomes, spending money, and sacrificing many middle-class conveniences to give their children an education they believed in. The Bluum Report estimates there are over 30,000 homeschooled students in Idaho. Homeschoolers thus contribute almost $400 million dollars to taxpayers every year by staying out of the public school system. Private schoolers are the same. They get no benefits. They give everything. The report suggests there are around 17,000 privately schooled children in Idaho. Their annual savings for the Idaho taxpayer? Over $220 Million.
How many of the critics of new Parental Choice Tax Credit have thanked a homeschool or private school family for saving them over $600 million every year? Last I checked, it’s not too common.
When it comes to charter schools, including virtual charter schools like the Idaho Home Learning Academy, they also save taxpayers huge sums of money. Charter schools have to do more with less. Unlike brick-and-mortar schools, charters must fund their operations entirely out of the state portion of education funding, with no local support. As a case in point, IHLA educated students for only $6,408 per student last year – a savings of almost 50% over the typical public school spend. And IHLA parents were happy with that, voluntarily choosing them over the other public and non-public schooling options available. IHLA has grown its enrollment in the past 5 years by over 10%. IHLA is saving the state over $50 million each year as it educates over 7,000 students.
Yes, IHLA students can spend up to $1,700 of that money on additional educational expenses like extra textbooks, tutors, piano lessons, or recreational sports teams. A traditional public school also has arts education, athletics, and support for struggling students. It’s not “unfair” at all, it’s just 50% more efficient than our “regular” public schools.
There’s only one group that loses when families make these choices: Public school educators who are providing an unsatisfactory education. Blame it on the restrictions of state law, unfunded mandates, or whatever you like. The simple fact is that many families think IHLA’s use of $6,400 is better than your brick-and-mortar public school’s use of $13,000. If the regular schools were really that good, nobody would leave them. But if, on the other hand, roughly one-third of families would rather save us all millions every year by signing up for a charter school or by doing their own thing privately, outside the strictures of the public system, taxpayers should go ahead and write that check – it’s in their own financial interest to do so.
Instead of complaining about funding levels being “unfair” for virtual charter schools, or complaining about supplemental learning funds, or that homeschooling and private schooling families can now receive up to $5,000 for qualified educational expenses, Idaho taxpayers should think a lot more about saying “thank you” for the billions of dollars these families have contributed to the common good over the past decade.
David Talcott is graduate dean at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho, and a father of seven.
