Recapturing home-school families.

Across the nation, school districts "increasingly want home-schoolers counted in their enrollment so they [can] collect state and local tax dollars for them," reports the Wisconsin Parents Association in its December 2003 newsletter. "Districts are proposing or creating public c-schools and other programs to draw homeschoolers into the public school enrollment base.... [Other] districts are trying to get families to 'homeschool' with costs covered by taxpayers as long as they are willing to enroll in a public school and comply with public school regulations, including taking tests required of public school students."

The November 26, 2003 Janesville (Wisconsin) Gazette put the matter about as bluntly as possible in an article headlined: "Can Janesville School District lure home-schoolers?" "Home-school children could be a source of revenue for the Janesville School District," reported the paper. "More than 200 children who live in the district are home schooled.... If all those students attended public school, the district would realize about $1.5 million in increased funding through the state school funding formula...." School board president Tom Wolfe boiled down the issue to its essence: "I see it [the statistics on home-schooling] in dollar signs."

The November 29 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel described efforts to hook home-school families up to online e-schools or "virtual" schools as a way of including those students in enrollment statistics--and, therefore, getting increased state and federal funding. "We're bringing home-schoolers back into the public schools, and we think that's a good thing," observed Dan Bauer, director of the Monroe Independent Education Charter High School."

Wisconsin has long been a trend-setter in public education. As the exodus from public schools accelerates, efforts similar to Wisconsin's will likely be undertaken across the country.