People in Glass Houses...

"Putting money into _____ schooling is throwing money down a rathole. You have no idea if that money is being spent properly or children are benefiting."

Q1. Who said this?
Q2. Which word goes in the blank?
Q3. What is this quote in response to?

Sounds like the words of a political conservative bashing government-run schools, wouldn't you think? If you guessed that, however, you would be incorrect.

The quote actually came from a 2001 Time magazine article about homeschooling. It was said by the then-president of the California Teacher's Association, Wayne Johnson, objecting to granting homeschoolers access to part-time enrollment or extracurricular activities at public schools.

Perhaps Mr. Johnson should worry a little less about the ~5% of K-12 students being homeschooled in the U.S. and a bit more about the 85% enrolled in government-run schools. If he's concerned about the accountability of taxpayer dollars and whether children actually benefit from the money spent, he needs to start looking a lot closer to home!

For the 2005-2006 school year, only 47% of California 10th graders passed the math portion of the CA High School Exit Exam (CHSEE) and only 51% passed the English section of the CHSEE. The graduation rate is only 71%. This despite a whopping average per-pupil expenditure of over $11,000 per year!

If the California public schools were some bastion of efficiency and effectiveness in education, then Mr. Johnson would have the legitimate moral high ground to question homeschooling. Clearly, that is far from the case.