When the Truth Hurts

Bruce Shortt, author of The Harsh Truth about Public Schools, continues to be a thorn in the side of public education because of his "nasty habit" of exposing its failures.  In a recent WND article, he points out how West Virginia's new state superintendent of schools, Jorea Marple, has taken to attacking homeschooling as a means to deflect attention from the state's abysmal failure at all levels of public education. He reports,

In an appearance before the West Virginia Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Education, Miss Marple warned the Committee that West Virginia's unusual level of educational attainment was imperiled by homeschooling because homeschoolers need "... more oversight, better standards, better evidence of progress." Moreover, according to Miss Marple, "homeschoolers have too much flexibility."

 Shortt then adds,

In 2008, West Virginia's government schools ranked 22nd in the United States in per pupil expenditures and were reported to have spent over $10,00 per student. This amount actually represents just the operating expenses for West Virginia schools. Other significant expenses, such as capital expenditures, are excluded. Consequently, as is also the case with other states, West Virginia's reported per-pupil spending substantially understates the true spending per pupil.

States in which forensic audits have been done to determine how much is actually being spent per pupil in government schools suggest that West Virginia may be spending 20 percent to 50 percent more than the reported amount of over $10,000 per student per year. Bear in mind that over $10,000 per year, let alone $12,000 to $15,000, will pay the full  tuition at many, many academically outstanding private schools.

Shortt's article goes on to outline the abysmal results from an academic point of view, West Virginia produces with all the taxpayer dollars they receive.

Note to homeschooling families:  Continue to obey God by educating your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, apart from statist indoctirintation, but be aware of new strategies to destroy the evidence of your success.  Continue to support those advocacy groups that monitor harmful legislation and defamatory court cases geared to subjugate homeschooolers.  Continue to live by God's law-word, seeking to apply it to every area of life and thought. Continue to take comfort in the reality that,

Christ executes the office of a King, in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. (Westminster Shorter Catechism, answer to question #26.)

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