Mid-Prairie school district builds new home for homeschool program

KALONA - For Iowa residents unfamiliar with homeschool education, the idea of a school district constructing a new facility for homeschool students might seem contradictory.

Why, after all, would students whose families choose to educate them at home need to attend classes in a school building?

But for the Mid-Prairie Community School District and the students in its homeschool assistance program, the chance to learn in groups and access district resources is important - enough so that the district is spending $1.1 million this year on an addition to its middle school that will house the program.

The project will give the program - which serves 285 students in a district of about 1,700 - a space several times larger than the one it currently uses at Washington Township Elementary School.

The district believes its program is the second-largest in the state when considered as a percentage of overall enrollment, Superintendent Mark Schneider said. The Marion Independent School District's homeschool assistance program, also considered one of the strongest in the state, had about 850 students this past school year in a district of about 2,000.

Many families in Mid-Prairie and surrounding districts choose to homeschool their students to keep their family together and strengthen relationships and family values, said Jan Childress, the program's director.

'It's what they want to create for their kids and their families,” Childress said.

But parents also recognize that there are some resources they cannot provide, she said. That's where the homeschool assistance program comes in.

With four full-time teachers and seven others who work up to half-time, the program can offer group enrichment activities - such as art and group Lego-building - for elementary school students and one day of classes each week for middle and high school students, Childress said. Classes for older students include band, choir, science, writing, literature and technology, she said.

Some of those lessons are better if they're done in groups, Childress said. In other cases, such as science labs, the program can offer resources that parents cannot.

The 6,000-square-foot addition at Mid-Prairie Middle School will provide greater and more flexible space for those activities. The addition also includes a technology lab, but a large part of it - including three classrooms and office space - is devoted to the homeschool assistance program.

The program has about 500 square feet in its current location, Schneider said. The district plans to move the program to its new location in December, over the district's winter break, he said.

The project is funded by part of a $10.64 million bond issue that voters approved in April 2014.

The new space comes as the program has a larger-than-usual incoming class this year. Twenty-seven kindergarten-aged students have signed up for the program, Childress said.

A typical class, she said, has about 15 students.

Students from 14 other districts use open enrollment to attend Mid-Prairie's homeschool assistance program, Schneider said. About two-thirds of homeschool students in the area use the assistance program, Childress said.

More than half the students in the program this past school year - 150 - transfer from other districts through open enrollment, according to figures provided by Schneider.

The homeschool assistance program also includes more students than each of the district's three elementary schools individually.

Open enrollment into the program can help the district financially, Schneider said.

Homeschool students only amount to three-tenths of a full-time student under the state's certified enrollment formula, which determines funding, Schneider said. But the district receives tuition money from other districts when students use open enrollment, and Schneider said having more students overall in the district can help spread out costs.

'You talk to any farmer, they'll tell you the bigger the farm, the more economies of scale you have,” Schneider said. 'It works the same way with a school.”

But Schneider said he is concerned about the learning of all students who live in the Mid-Prairie district, regardless of how they choose to learn.

'Mid-Prairie is a district with a lot of choice,” he said, noting the Christian and Mennonite schools, among others, that are located nearby. 'It works to your favor to be sensitive to people's right to choose.”