Arizona Parents are Using Public Ed $ for Kayaks, Trampolines & SeaWorld Tickets
Arizona Parents are Using Public Ed $ for Kayaks, Trampolines & SeaWorld Tickets
When former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law last year that lets any family receive public funds for private school or homeschooling, he said he “trusts parents to choose what works best” for their children.
Over 46,000 Arizona students now use an education savings account, or ESA, which provides about $7,000 per child annually for a huge array of school services. But with households in greater charge of curricular choices, some purchases are raising eyebrows, among them items like kayaks and trampolines, cowboy roping lessons and tickets to entertainment venues like SeaWorld.
-----------
Under the law, participating families agree to provide instruction in the same content areas as public schools. In addition to more traditional lesson plans, parents report that they meet — or attempt to meet — those requirements through activities like ice skating and sword casting classes, according to posts in a Facebook group for ESA users and vendors marketing their services.
One parent in the group said she uses the Disney+ streaming service to “extend our learning” and asked if the state would approve the cost of a subscription. Others said they’ve received approvals for trampolines and horseback riding lessons.
-------------------
“As long as an item can be tied to a curriculum — with curriculum being ill-defined and open to interpretation — that meets the definition of an allowable expense,”
According to the education department’s parent handbook, some materials, like board games, puzzles and Legos, don’t require parents to submit a curriculum. But less-obvious items like dolls and stickers do. To justify buying a chicken coop for a science lesson, one parent posted a chicken-raising guide. Another suggested a workout from Fit Bottomed Girls to support the purchase of a trampoline for physical education.
Teachers for core subjects need to have at least a bachelor’s degree, but for specific classes like art, drama or dance, a two-year degree or a credential is acceptable. Vendors in the Facebook group often list what students would learn from their programs. The sword casting instructor, for example, said he would teach students “archaeology, physics, history and metallurgy.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/arizona-parents-are-using-public-ed-for-kayaks-trampolines-seaworld-tickets/ar-AA17cGMu
= new reply since forum marked as read
