<p>Common zoosermom, can’t you tell I’m running for office, which means I don’t need to provide specifics.</p>
<p>OK, I’ll wade in anyway. Actually, it would be easy to enforce. There is only one kind of school in the land for K-12, a public school. If you want a religious education, there is always Sunday school and catechism to provide a religious education.</p>
<p>Maybe if all resources were devoted to public schools, there would be public school programs which would be suitable for Bay’s child. I not saying that there is now, but if I ruled the world…</p>
<p>Agree with StickerShock. One of my kids went to large, well-endowed public HS, the other to a small, start-up parochial HS school. High school choice, too, is about fit.</p>
<p>We have always voted “yes” on school funding questions. Always.</p>
<p>There may be good reasons for private or parochial school families to seek the services of the local high school, particularly when that high school has abundant resources. If the private school is a start-up, often the full array of special services are simply not in place. If my son had needed services at our local public, I would not have hesitated to ask for them, and they would have been graciously provided.</p>
<p>Seems to me we all benefit from having a strong local school system, even if you choose to send your kids to private school. I heartily disagree with the concept that only those who use the schools should pay for them. I once heard a man compare public schools to a toll road–“If I want to take a longer, slower route, why should I pay for the toll road?” Couldn’t disagree more. Free public education is one hallmark of the American dream. I realize this isn’t exactly what the OP said, but I wanted to make this point…Agree that if we all worked toward stronger public schools by enrolling our kids and by participating in the management of those schools, we would have better schools and, as a result, a better society.</p>
<p>As to teachers being encouraged to join the union: How would you feel if your neighbor didn’t pay condo fees and yet benefited from others who did pay their fees? Non-union teachers get the same benefits as those who join the union. Whatever their reason for not joining they should pay their fair share! I just can’t agree with the “Why-buy-the-cow-if-you-can-get-the-milk for-free” concept.</p>
<p>At the high school level in the state of Illinois, he would NOT be allowed to technically. Because he is not enrolled at the school, he and the school would be in violation of IHSA rules.</p>
No, in California the overall funding would increase because the enrollment brings in more funding. There is a per diem, per-head $ amount based on attendance figures. </p>
<p>But I’ve got no problem with the parents who opt for private schools. I just don’t want them expecting to also poach on the limited time and resources that are at the public school specifically for its students.</p>
<p>I honestly can’t imagine the perverse sense of entitlement that would lead a parent to expect the public school g.c. to service their non-attending student – don’t the gc’s have enough on their plate already?</p>
<p>But calmom, the funding comes from taxpayers. So nobody is poaching, or acting out of a perverse sense of entitlement. They are paying for those services, and if there is something that the public school GC offers that is unavailable in their private school, they should be able to have the same opportunity for the service as any other kid.</p>
<p>How can I make this clear to you, calmom? We are paying taxes to support our local public schools. In fact, the amount of property tax we pay annually to support our local public high school exceeds the amount we pay in yearly parochial school tuition. We have chosen not to send one of our children to our public high school. I do not resent paying taxes to support the school we don’t use. However, if my child needed a service that the public school offers and our parochial start-up does not, I would not hesitate to turn to the public school. Doing so would neither be “poaching” – stealing – nor indulging what you characterize as a “perverse sense of entitlement.”</p>
<p>It’s still not clear to me why the OP posed the question? Regardless of the question of whether or not one is entitled to public school services even if one is not a public school student, it doesn’t make sense to use a GC from another school for a lot of reasons. </p>
<p>What is the situation that would make someone want to go outside of the school (public or private) to use another school’s GC? I have had experience with a public school GC and a Catholic school GC, and I prefer the Catholic school GC, but don’t see how it would work to use the Catholic school GC if another of my kids went to the public high school. Sending out a transcript would be problematic, for starters. Explaining rank or GPA could be a problem. Writing a recommendation, etc., as was already noted. If someone wants info on colleges that the private school GC isn’t giving (for whatever reason?), there is this site and there are books aplenty, and there are people who will advise for a fee. There is Google.</p>
<p>Now if the question were something like my kid goes to private school but needs speech therapy, can we use the public school services because the private school doesn’t offer that? – that sort of question would make more sense to me.</p>
<p>Here’s an example I’m familiar with, mstee. Child with learning disabilities attends parochial school. Parochial school is addressing child’s learning issues reasonably well, and parents are employing a private tutor as well. Parochial school’s college counselor has little experience advising learning disabled students about college admissions. Parents could hire a private counselor, but local public school has abundant resources and a college counseling department with vast experience offering advise about colleges to students with learning disabilities. They decide to turn to the public school.</p>
<p>Even if there is NO GC at OP’s parochial school, the public school GC should not be expected to provide services to OP’s child. GC has a large caseload, no doubt, and shouldn’t be expect to serve private school students. OP makes a choice to not have a GC if none is employed by chosen private school. If parochial schools can’t meet student needs, such as speech therapy or special education, and students should enroll in the public sschool to obtain those services; same applies to home-schooled students. Believe some states allow private school students to participate in ECs at public schools which is not in the best interest of either segment of the student population. Logistical problems abound if private school/home-schooled students are allowed to participate in music or sports programs—or take AP chem—without being full-fledged students at the school.
IMO, parents should not be allowed to pick and choose which public school services they want. Either you send your kids to public school and partake of all services or you send your kids to private schools and get no services.</p>