Why Would Homeschoolers Want to Enroll in a Public Education Virtual School?

The Mehlville School District is offering virtual school courses to homeschoolers:

He might not be selling ice to Alaskans, but Mark Catalana's job is no easy task.

He's trying to convince parents of home-schooled children to send their kids to the Mehlville School District.

But Catalana's offering something a little different: the ability to attend Mehlville without leaving home.

It's called the Virtual Program.

"It's distance learning with an online curriculum," said Catalana, director of alternate programs for the Mehlville School District.

Why is the district reaching out to a segment of students whose parents aren't particularly interested in what public education has to offer? Why would homeschooling parents want to give up the autonomy of educating their children with curriculum that is indeed "parent approved" and the fact that homeschoolers, as a whole, outperform publicly educated students in testing results?

The district believes some of the advantages of enrolling in the program are benefits such as earning a standard high school diploma and the ability to join in school activities such as clubs and social events. Sports, however, are out. The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) prohibits athletes from enrolling in distance learning programs.

The spokesman stated adding home-schoolers has a negligible financial impact on the district, given the small number of students involved in the Virtual Program. What he didn't state was enrolling homeschooling students in a virtual program would garner the district more money as it is paid per student. So, more homeschoolers enrolled in the Virtual Program means more money for the district.

Allowing them to play sports, however, would cost the district money, and there isn't an offset revenue generator for this extra expense. Clubs and social events don't cost much money, but playing sports does. Even though you may homeschool and you are paying taxes for a service you aren't using (or maybe you are through virtual school), your child can't play high school sports if he/she doesn't attend the brick and mortar public school building.

The offering of Virtual School seems as if it is a money making generator for the district which cedes control of homeschooling curriculum and autonomy to the district with no real added benefit to the homeschooled student. Social clubs and outings exist within the homeschooling community, so the draw to mingle with students they don't know in a large school may not hold much appeal. Virtual schooling allows students to study when they want and work on their own pace. From what I know about homeschooling, that's how it operates now without the added component of governmental intrusion.

It will be interesting to see if Mehlville will enroll many homeschoolers in the program. As of now:

Whether such positive endorsements are enough to draw interest from home-schoolers remains to be seen. Catalana has yet to sign up a student, but outreach efforts have just started.