SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – State funding for private and homeschooled students will be a popular topic during the upcoming legislative session.
Legislative leaders introduced a bill that would allocate $4 million and establish a savings account to be used by parents for home, private and microschooling. Supporters say it gives low-income families access to alternative education.
Jennifer Beving has been homeschooling for 15 years and led homeschool advocacy groups in the state. She is also the director of Americans for Prosperity South Dakota and helped get the bill written.
“There’s a lot of kids who are in public schools right now that really need this,” she said. “The kids who are homeschooling right now…, they’ve gotten into a place of education where their parents feel comfortable and they’ve sorted the problems out.”
If passed, HB 1020, would establish a statewide educational savings account where parents who qualify can access the funds and purchase curriculum and supplies. About $3,000 per eligible child will be available in the initial year of funding.
The goal is to lower the financial barrier of alternative schooling for families who may need a different style of education, but can’t afford the non-public school option.
“What we see is families who have special needs, their children need extra tutoring, speech therapy, things like that, those are the families that are really struggling in this area,” Beving said.
Homeschooling in South Dakota has grown about five times in the last 25 years. In 2000, just over 2,000 students were homeschooled in the state. Today, there are 11,500. Beving attributes the rise, in part, to parent’s greater awareness of their children’s education after COVID-19.
The cost for alternative instruction in South Dakota varies depending on the program. Free curriculums are available online, however access to a computer for each student is usually necessary. Hybrid and microschools range between $3,00-$5,000 a year. Private schools can get up to $10,000 a year, Beving noted.
A microschool is an alternative learning environment that isn’t state accredited. With smaller class sizes, the curriculum is more tailored to the specific needs in the group.
Those in opposition to the bill, worry that money will be divested from public schools.
“We envision that it is going to have to come from the general fund which would be all K-12 education, which would mean less revenues going out to school districts across the state,” Rob Monson, The Executive Director of the School Administrators of South Dakota, told KELOLAND News in November.
To ensure the money is still going toward education, homeschooling curriculum and technology will only be accessible through an online catalog, which has vetted education materials. The money can also be transferred to a private or microschool for tuition.
Although South Dakota hasn’t selected a specific company, Beving said other states with similar models use ClassWallet, which has materials for art and science projects, textbooks and computers, among other things.
“It’s like a small Amazon for education, basically,” Beving described. “By doing that, you really limit the fear that I think some legislators and some citizens might have that families might take this $3,000 and go buy a car or a motorcycle or something.”
The material catalog will be in addition to “random compliance audits,” according to the bill’s language. If any of the funds are used incorrectly, an investigation may occur.
Beving said through her work in homeschool advocacy groups and Americans for Prosperity parents have come to her wondering what their options are for alternative schooling and how to pay for it.
“People see their property tax bill, see what percentage goes to the school, and then realize they’re not getting services from that school. They’re just wondering why they can’t access a bit of that to go into education,” she said.
