[Vision2020] school funding

[Mcfarland]

Donovan, you wrote, "Nor did the parent choose to have a child with a special need." I argue: but those parents did choose to have a child and so if we're looking at burden to pay issues, I don't think you can make a distinction that one child is more worthy of receiving services to facilitate his/her education than the other. Or, in other words, my neighbor's special needs child is no less worthy than my no-special-needs child. Books, field trips, sports, music, arts, language, science, agriculture programs all cost money. 
The burden of paying the education bill for each child SHOULD be shared by the tax payer--by all the people of the State of Idaho (or the Nation of the United States) for many reasons. People who are educated well go on to do great things (cure diseases, create art and literature, provide entertainment, etc.--things which benefit all of us). Additionally, there are many parents who, faced with the choice of spending $50 per month so their child can participate in science lab or spending that money on other things (whether those are selfish items or necessities is a whole other issue), would opt to home-school to avoid the fees even if the parents are woefully inadequate to the job. The child doesn't have a choice.
 
Here's something else to think about . . . when kids are on probation for criminal or statutory offenses, the POs encourage them to be involved in sports or club activities through the schools because kids who occupy their time with school activities are less likely to occupy their time vandalizing buildings, using drugs, or creating havoc. Many (not all) kids on probation come from families that already have a history of problems within  the home (adult drug/alcohol abuse, parents with criminal histories, etc.). Although sentencing almost always prescribes that parents are billed for expenses involved with having a child on probation, the truth is that many never pay the entire amount owed to the state. Would we as tax payers rather pay for school activities or for cleaning up? We have to pay for one or the other . . .
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