Is More Money The Answer?
Listening to the teacher sharing about the need for more money to be put towards public education, my mind began to race. Now in my 23rd year of home educating my children, I wondered how much money we had spent over the years of this journey. Sorry that I had not kept better records, I reviewed in my mind the challenges of finding funds for learning materials in our one income home. Grateful for the resources we had purchased and for a library close by, I began to put some figures on a piece of paper. $15,000 would be the highest estimate I could come up with. Not bad for the privilege of teaching my three children. It would round off to be about $5,000.00 per child for their total educational expenses. Or a little less than $400.00 per year per child. Keep in mind I am being very generous with my estimations. Truth is that we had some very frugal years. That would be from Kindergarten through 12th grade if comparing to the public school system.
Most of my home educating was done in a different state than where I now live. This state is known for a very high tax rate due in large part to the cost of public education. Some years ago, I had heard the cost per pupil in that state was over $8,000.00 per year. It has now gone up to over $12,000.00 in some districts per pupil per year! This would mean that Husband and I have easily saved the taxpayers, looking at the lower rate, about $23,000.00 per year for our three children! Multiply that by twelve years and we have left $276,000.00 in the tax fund! Imagine if we had been blessed with more children!
As all three of my children are articulate, read voraciously, and have a bent for the written word, I deem our method of education successful. Granted math and science are not our strong suits, but each of my progeny met the requirements of their higher math and science subjects. Firstborn Son has been gainfully employed since the age of 19 and makes his living using the written word. Daughter's accomplishments help her to be an asset to her new husband in his various pursuits. Youngest Son, with one year left of our "formal" schooling already uses his skills for pay and writes novels in his spare time.
Okay, I am the mother and as you can tell, a proud one at that. My point here is putting more money into something is not always the answer. I honestly do not think the problem with the public school system is finances and/or the lack of them. Although I am not an advocate of the public school system, my point here is not to really open up a debate on the public schools and their economics. My point is for us to consider how often we follow the dictates of a society which encourages us to see money as the answer to all our problems. Look where this philosophy has gotten us as a nation.
Although Husband and I did not home educate our children for financial reasons, we were willing to step out of the box so to speak and take on a task we were told we could never do without the "accepted" tools and training. Yet the same perspective that aids us in living the frugal life, helped us to find ways to provide for the educational needs of our family.
Watching prices rise and listening to all the cautions around us that life may soon take some challenging turns, I am reminded of when we stepped out in faith some 23 years ago to leave an establishment that told us there was no better way. There was a better way and more money is not always the answer.
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9 Responses to “Is More Money The Answer?”
August 18th, 2011 at 7:31 am
Our local district is trying to raise money to buy teachers smart boards at $5000 each! Smart boards are not going to solve our nation’s education problems. I’m reminded of our founding fathers who were educated with a minimum of materials but who were brilliant thinkers. You are so right that throwing money at a problem will not necessarily solve it!
August 18th, 2011 at 9:08 am
Does the $400 represent purely the cost of your materials?
I would be interested to see a figure if you placed a monetary value on the time that you spent instructing and preparing your lessons and then see how the breakdown works out per child.
With this calculation it seems that you are unfairly counting your labor as free, something which no public school could ever do.
August 18th, 2011 at 9:37 am
I agree with Mark. Also consider that public schools are also required to teach students who have had no family support, are severely emotionally or mentally disabled, who can’t speak English, who are physically handicapped, etc. There are also a great many other expenses that go into running a school that goes beyond material costs.
I’m not saying throwing money at the problem is the answer, but I am saying you need to consider the whole picture before getting all holier than thou about homeschooling.
August 18th, 2011 at 10:01 am
Mark:
I appreciate your point and yes, the $400 figure is just a very generous estimate for materials.
My point was that our family made an “out of the box” decision and although economics was not the foundation for that decision, we saved tax payers a large amount of money by home educating our children. I used the figures to give an estimate of that savings.
Yes, I did donate my services to my children but that in no way minimizes the amount of money saved to those who pay taxes.
JS:
I am most grateful for the opportunity to have home educated my children. Although it has been a “holy” decision for our family, I in no way want it to appear “holier than thou.” However, I will take any opportunity I am given to rejoice wholeheartedly in our decision and make the point that education can be had without astronomical expense.
August 18th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Sure, but you didn’t “pay” a teacher. And you didn’t include expenses for a building. You can do a few children cheaply as you have, but you can’t do 1000 that cheaply. I agree that more money isn’t the answer, but the “I did it for this cheaply, you could too” isn’t fair.
August 18th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Jayme:
My point is not to be “fair.” My point is that more money does not mean a better education.
Actually, I know of at least 1000 home educated children that have been educated inexpensively.
I know those who would be proponents of the public school system who would agree that the money pumped into this system through the years has not been the answer.
In this season of fiscal challenges and the fact that the public schools are funded by taxpayers, my point is that it might be beneficial for all to consider a more frugal mindset. I was using the analogy that it cost me less to teach my own children than it did to pay for the education of the other children being educated in the public school system in my area. Shouldn’t that make us give some thought to how to solve problems? The accepted way is not the only way.
I was then making an analogy to the present day challenges of living in our economy. For some, making more money is not the answer and even may be an impossible goal. However, learning how to better use the money that is made and finding alternatives so less money is needed is something to consider.
You may not choose to apply this concept to education. I did and am grateful for the many benefits it provided to my family and to my fellow taxpayers.
August 18th, 2011 at 1:01 pm
Great answers, DL, and I am with you on every point!
August 19th, 2011 at 6:36 am
I totally agree with this concept. To many people are focusing strickly on your homeschooling numbers and not getting the point of how we can all buck the system and say hey, more money is not the answer to all our woes, and get creative with the funds we have.
My kids are private school and we pay less than half the local cost of public school per child. we are blessed. I have a laundry list of what is wrong with the public school system, but that is not the point of this post.
I recently shared with another mother who is struggling with funds, to be a sahm with 4 kids that she needed to take a step back and look at the issue that was upsetting her from a different angle.
She was getting worked up that her husband was spending so much on their oldest dd’s sport and that left nothing for the other 3 kids.
Society says that extra activities make better kids, that we have to be “fair” and offer each kid that same options.
Society is wrong, “fair” is a myth. We each do the best we can but “fair” rarely enters into it.
When she stopped and thought it thru it was only one child left with no activity of any sort and he chose that position, if he has changed his mind, then she could start by making a list of what he needed to participate in the new activity, what the time commitment would be and if that was doable in the family time dynamic, and the actual amount that was needed, not a guess the hard numbers. Then you can look at any way to cut the number down, or get help meeting that figure.
Ultimately, money is just one part of any equation.
August 20th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
I agree with what Mark said earlier, teacher/staff salaries are figured in for the cost of each child. Also included is the cost of playground equipment and repairs that need to be made (minor ones like waxing the floor every summer, and major ones like replacing broken items.) Teachers are also given an amount of money to spend each year, and some teachers require a lot – I’m mostly thinking of the extra-curriculars, like music instruments, art supplies, sport equipment, and library books.
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