Homeschooling in The Commonwealth

Jessica Bowman
Jan 8, 2016
4 min read

As Kentucky welcomed Matt Bevin into the Commonwealth as the new Governor, I can’t help but think about what this may mean for Kentucky’s homeschooler’s. Matt & Glenna Bevin have been open about currently home schooling their 9 children so hopefully good things are coming down the pipeline. Unfortunately, you can’t hold your breath as most of these children born/adopted into prestigious political families don’t normally attend your poorly funded, nearly proficient public school systems like the general populous.

After publicly announcing that Bevin’s children decided on providing education for their children at home some homeschooling families felt strongly about supporting him with their vote; hopeful they would have someone in their corner, politically, so to speak.

In the Lexington Harold early in 2015 Bevin was quoted saying:

“Why should these parents be precluded from — why are they paying for public education and then also having to pay the costs of home-schooling?” Bevin asked. “It’s discrimination for political reasons, because the teachers’ unions fear other alternatives are a threat to them.”

Even though I do not agree with much Bevin says, I can’t help but agree with the statement above. If that statement was implemented verbatim without any other variables or criteria (which we know that probably won’t be the case, as there are always some other hoops to jump through with pushy political agendas) and our freedom to home-school was not compromised in any way, homeschooling families could finally feel as if we had some political rights. Although, we do have the “right” to choose to home-school our children, we do not get any compensation or tax breaks in doing so. We essentially are paying for our neighbors kids education on top of our own.

The unfortunate side is that public schools don’t want to lose students because that would mean a loss in grant money and a loss of participation in federal or state funded programs.

Although I am a tax paying citizen in Kentucky my children are unable to participate in any extracurricular activities that require enrollment in the public school system. This is not because there is a law that prohibits it, but simply because the district chooses not to incorporate them. I wrote the Executive Director of Pupil/Personnel Student services looking for resolutions:

“There are some major differences in the availability of extracurricular activities, programs, and sports offered to homeschooling children. Correct me if I am wrong, but there is not a law in the State of Kentucky specifying that home school children are unable to participate in such programs with the public school districts. It is actually up to the school district to decide, is this correct?

The Executive Director of Pupil/Personnel Student Services response is below, as you can see he/she is not offering any resolution to the problem:

“You are correct that the local district makes some decisions regarding participation of home-school students in particular activities. ********** Schools does not allow home school students participation in school teams/clubs/activities which require enrollment.”

Basically the districts are choosing not allow home-schooler’s to participate. If they want to play then they have to be enrolled into the public school district. Districts make these decisions even though there is not a law in Kentucky that states home-schooler’s are unable to participate in extra curricular activities. Obviously there are many other options available for home-schooler’s to participate in, but my battle lies with the district. Where are our rights? Home-schooler’s still would be subjected to paying the activity fees, just as students enrolled in the public school system. Is that not more money for their school?

The district is unresponsive to my emails, phone calls and letters in regards to my children’s participation but continues to actively recruit for participates in services that are federally mandated. The irony is my home-schooled children can’t participate in football, basketball, or any other sport, but 3-4 times a year I receive a letter requesting OUR information to determine if we are qualified to receive special needs services or any other services. These federal funded programs grant funding based on the volume of participants. The district has never skipped a letter, and I see no short comings on recruiting in the future. The federal government spends an ungodly amount of money on our education system a year, a reported $154 Billion!! That is a whole different blog in itself, that I will not get into today.

The problem here is that for years Kentucky has let the ball drop on tracking and monitoring homeschooled children. I am not sure that they even have an accurate number. In recent years they have been scrambling to gather information because of the new drop out law that has now came to pass (not sure if they thought about the future consequences it would entail).

Not only are they unsure of the number of students homeschooled, but Kentucky is very lax in their regulations in regards to homeschooling. Parents need to only notify with a letter of intent every school year. Check out the chart below on homeschooling regulations across the states. Eleven states have no requirements for notifying of intent to homeschool or any other regulations in place.

I personally homeschooled for years in Ohio and they are very strict, but they also allow homeschoolers to participate in public school systems activities and sometimes allow them to participate in a class or two. The state also offers free college tuition for children in 7th grader and higher! I am thinking about moving back!

Homeschooling in The Commonwealth

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