IG report: Baltimore city schools had more than 900 ghost students costing taxpa

[SVPete]

IG report: Baltimore city schools had more than 900 ghost students costing taxpayers $10 million

https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2022/04/22/ig-report-baltimore-city-schools-had-more-than-900-ghost-students-costing-taxpayers-10-million-n464269

Last year WBFF in Baltimore uncovered the existence of “ghost students” at a high school in the city where the average GPA for seniors was 0.13. These were students who were enrolled in school on paper but who rarely or never attended classes.

Last April the Maryland Public Policy Institute sent a formal request to the Maryland Inspector General for Education asking that the issue of ghost students be investigated. And finally, last September Baltimore City Schools released their own report which identified about 100 ghost students who were attending ghost classes.
...
This week the Maryland IG for Education finally released their report which found there were more than 900 ghost students in Baltimore City Public Schools at a cost to taxpayers of $10 million dollars. Statewide the situation was even worse.

For the sake of comparison, my high school class was ~500 students.

[Eupher]

I'm sure the same story would be found in most, if not all, leftist-run cities. Detroit, LA, Cleveland, NYC, Atlanta, D.C. They're all corrupt.

[SVPete]

PSs typically receive state and Federal $$ on a per-student basis (Average Daily Attendance). It's a reasonable way of doling out the $$, but, sadly, it's also an incentive for this kind of fraud. This shows the sad state of the sort of people who have been able to worm their way into public education - not necessarily a majority of teachers and educrats, but enough in Baltimore for corrupt people to reach some of the highest levels of educracy.

On the side, one of the main reason teachers unions and high level educrats HATE homeschooling is the reduction in student headcount. Each homeschooled student equals less ADA $$. Ironically, the unions' and educrats' Covid-Panic game-playing has given homeschooling a big boost. It's looking like a good number of parents forced to "homeschool" their children, because of Covid shutdowns, found ways to stick with it and not return their children to the PS sausage factory.

[Eupher]

PSs typically receive state and Federal $$ on a per-student basis (Average Daily Attendance). It's a reasonable way of doling out the $$, but, sadly, it's also an incentive for this kind of fraud. This shows the sad state of the sort of people who have been able to worm their way into public education - not necessarily a majority of teachers and educrats, but enough in Baltimore for corrupt people to reach some of the highest levels of educracy.

On the side, one of the main reason teachers unions and high level educrats HATE homeschooling is the reduction in student headcount. Each homeschooled student equals less ADA $$. Ironically, the unions' and educrats' Covid-Panic game-playing has given homeschooling a big boost. It's looking like a good number of parents forced to "homeschool" their children, because of Covid shutdowns, found ways to stick with it and not return their children to the PS sausage factory.

I first learned about homeschooling in 1999 when I got married (3rd time is the charm!). No kids but my stepson was 18 and just getting out on his own at that point.

I was fascinated about the homeschooling thing. My wife's good friend homeschooled her 4 boys and even with her piano and teaching piano gigs, she made it work. All 4 boys turned out to be great young men - I taught trumpet to one of them for a while.

I wasn't quite aware of the reason for the homeschooling until later on, and I can now see clearly why parents homeschool. As long as the kids get some kind of social experience with kids of their own age, I think it's the way to go.

[FlaGator]

All that money that is given to the schools has got to go somewhere. It definitely isn't going to education of students.

[SVPete]

What drove us, initially, to homeschooling was academic concerns (contrary to the Homeschoolers Are a Bunch of Fundies stereotype). If you listen to realtors, every school district is above average or excellent. The reality we understood is that even in an otherwise excellent school, one bad teacher can mess up the education experience, even long-term, for a whole classroom(s) of students.

The realization that schools had become anti-Christian, anti-parent, and were manipulating students toward amorality (wasting time in which they should have been teaching academics) came later. This was almost 40 years ago, and very obviously PSs have gotten far worse.

However, second most important (and quickly most important) to us was the prospect of homeschooling making our family stronger, and the extreme flexibility available in homeschooling. Some homeschooling parents school-at-home, recreate school classrooms and replicate classroom school schedules and methods. Some homeschooling parents kind of turn their kids loose to pursue their interests, knowing that pursuing those interests will "force" the kids to learn to read, do math, learn Science, and learn History (sometimes called "unschooling"). We were closer to the latter. All of our munchkins have done reasonably well, academically, and the specifics of their career fields entail the interests they pursued, to a great extent, by their choices.

"Socialization"     ... sigh. Like parents are hyenas, unsuitable or toxic for teaching basic social behavior? Beyond the home, social activities depend on what is available locally. As to PSs, can anyone, with a straight face, claim that they are largely and increasingly toxic? Rural people have different activities available than big city people. Where 4-H, hunt clubs, and such are more easily available to rural people, while team sports leagues, bands, and choirs are more easily available to city people. Our experience, in the heart of Silicon Valley, was that we had to pick and choose activities so our kids had "classroom" time and weren't out of the house every day. Of course, churches and groups such as Scouts and Trail Life are readily available.