Home schooling's value

Home schooling is gaining popularity throughout the country, and Iowa is no exception. One of every 17 Iowa students is home schooled. This education alternative is something we support, so long as students demonstrate they're learning at high level and the state's funding to local school districts represents a fair share of the costs incurred.

We think Iowa's home schooling program strikes a good balance and is a largely successful alternative form of education that should be protected to help serve some families' unique and important educational wants and needs.

The important thing is that Iowa's young people learn the skills and information they need to be competent, contributing adults - where and how they learn it is of secondary importance. If families are willing to devote the time and energy to teach their children, more power to them.

An estimated 30,000 children are home-schooled in Iowa; about 474,000 children attend public schools.

Some families choose home schooling so they can spend more time together. Others want to offer their children lessons that are tailored to their interests and learning styles, or to incorporate religious teachings into standard educational fare. Or because of medical or other issues that would make a traditional school setting inordinately stressful for their child.

Families generally are the best judges of whether or not home schooling is right for them. A traditional schoolhouse environment is not suitable for everyone.

In Iowa, families can dual enroll their students in a local school district, to allow students to attend some classes and extracurricular activities at school.

They can find other resources and support through home school assistance programs, like those in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Linn-Mar and Marion school districts.

Such programs offer supervision and help from licensed educators as well as social activities and shared resources to home schooling families.

The Department of Education cut home schooling assistance funding by nearly half over the last two years, and this year wanted to restrict use of the reduced money even more severely. Budget concerns are more serious than usual. However, it appears state legislators this session have struck a reasonable compromise that will preserve the essence of the program.

That's important. Drastically reducing home-school support, or doing away with it entirely, would betray families whose children benefit from the program.

So long as annual assessments show that home-schooled children are making adequate academic progress, we see value in the state's continued support. A flexible educational system should focus on learning and achievement, whether that occurs in the home or a school building.