As you may have recently seen, many students have been going home-schooled. On the surface, homeschooling may seem like a good idea. And yes, for many students, homeschooling can be beneficial. Homeschooling can offer a more personalized learning experience that many students thrive with. Despite this, homeschooling is currently causing more harm than good.

The West Virginia Department of Education reported that in the 2023-2024  school year alone, around 24,500 students were homeschooled. This number more than doubled following the 2019-2021 pandemic.

You may be asking yourself, “What’s the issue then?” Simple: Homeschooling takes away from our public school system. Did you know that West Virginia public schools receive around $14,575 to $16,300 per student? Now, just think about how much money is being taken from our schools due to people going home-schooled.

This loss of money causes many problems. First, schools may be forced to cut extracurricular programs like sports or arts. Many students see these as outlets for them to express their creativity and skills, so seeing them go causes all kinds of problems. Next, the overall quality of the school districts decreases. Without enough money, schools can not afford proper materials and technology. Last, the main trouble is that homeschooling causes staff cuts. Since school districts lose money, they cannot afford to pay many of their workers. Teachers, aids, counselors, cooks, nurses, bus drivers, and more staff members face being laid off. Yet we need every employee in the school system, because they are the ones getting students ready for the next chapters in their lives. Overall, budget cuts cause serious threats.

Whether or not you agree with homeschooling is up to you. However, as you can see, it is destroying public schooling as we know it. If you are ever considering it, I urge you to take a look at the repercussions and ask yourself: “Is it really worth it?”