Data housed by the Florida Department of Education shows that students in Leon County Schools that chose home education grew 44% from 2016 to 2018.
This growth rate is over five times the 7.7% rate recorded for the state of Florida.
The data shows that in 2016 there 1,406 homeshooled students in Leon County. This number grew to 2,026 in 2018.
Also, the Leon County growth rate of 44% during this period ranks number one when compared to the 37 Florida school districts in Florida with more than 500 students choosing to homeschool. See table below.
District Ranking of Growth in
Homeschool Students
As the chart below shows, students enrolling in home education programs have been on the increase in Florida since 2008.
Why the large, recent increase in Leon County?
Tallahassee Reports has requested information about the home education program in Leon County and will publish a report when the information becomes available.
Leon County Homeschool Students Increase Over Five Times Faster than State added by Steve Stewart on
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Their are many individuals who homeschool their children with great success. This whole thing is not about those parents.
This is about Leon County Schools effort to be sure school grades are elevated and graduation rates improve. Counselors have been told to withdraw students to homeschool and then parents are to take them to adult education if they want then to continue to receive education services to work towards earning a high school diploma.
This speaks to how little the district cares about these kids. They do not care about the student bettering their life opportunities. It is all about making themselves look good. If they cared they would not have moved ACE or continue to cancel ACE classes located for the benefit of students.
Back in the days when students could be withdrawn to adult education without counting against the school it was a frequent policy and parents and students received services beneficial to them. Now it is not about the well-being of a student who may need a different path. It is all about making Rocky look good. Someone please help these kids who just need a different type of education and teachers who care. If you don’t believe it works just ask some of the highly successful ACE graduates.
All you need do is go back two years to see how Rocky and his ship of fools board handled the move of ACE to the other side of town — no state approval, more than $50,000 spent without approval, and on and on. He and his board care nothing about rules, so none of this comes as a surprise.
Home School is great. Any parent should be able to home school if they want. Some.of you are missing the point about what the school systems are doing. If a student decides to drop out or go to adult ed, the districts are telling the state they are being home schooled. Then, they are not counted as a drop outs. A Scam! God Bless all you Home Schoolers.
34,000 students. Top five in the State for high school graduation. Home schooling is fine for those who need it. How about celebrating the good, Mr. Stewart? Oh that’s right, there is nothing good in government schools. Hate on.
The homeschool community is growing because it is just that – a community, where families are choosing to support and encourage one another, while spending precious/limited time nurturing and educating their children according to their individual needs and interests. Because it is a healthy and thriving community in this county, it has become a viable and successful option. Not because of loop holes, bullies, dropouts or discipline problems.
I chose to homeschool because I love to be around my kids! There are some unfriendly assumptions being made by judgmental and/or ignorant people. 1) We do not think public schools are terrible, but we do think home education is better for our children. 2) No, our kids were not potential dropouts, discipline problems, disabled, bullied, etc 3) Our now adult children were well-prepared for college and life. They know how to problem solve, have good work ethics and are great people to be around! 4) Our kids are much more accepting of others’ beliefs than others are of theirs!? Instead of presuming negatives, let’s celebrate excellence in our young people…public schooled or not!
My wife and I have been home educating our children for 18 years and I believe the growth has more to do with a lack of confidence in the liberal education being taught in public schools. We believe it’s our parental obligation to teach moral standards, and that responsibility has often times been ceded to the State. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a great option for committed parents concerned about the moral direction of our society and want to protect our children.
My guess is: Some have been so Unruly that they were kicked out, a Lot are Kids that have been Bullied and the rest are because of Disabilities and other reasons. If you create a Zero Tolerance on Bullying and kicked the Bullies out, you will see things start to change. While you are at it, Better Teachers, better Training for Teachers and better Pay for Teachers.
Mr Stewart please send your article to Richard Corcoran, Commissioner of Education at the Florida Department of Education. Rocky Hanna and his Assistant Superintendents who have responsibility for Curriculum and oversight to schools should be suspended for malfeasance, deliberately orchestrating the removal of students from public education because they would not graduate on time. An immediate full scale audit is needed. All school registrars should be immediately deposed to find out who told them to talk parents into homeschooling high school students and students at risk of academic failure. The school board should be held accountable for allowing Rocky Hanna and his Assistant Superintendents to game the system causing academic and long term economic failure for our most at risk youth.
Thank you for reporting this issue.
As a homeschooling parent, we chose to remove our kids due to the ridiculous accountability requirements thrown at them by the state, as well as, how our educators are viewed and devalued. It starts at the top, not the district. If there is some loophole, then shame on the supers
Well, I do come in contact with a lot of people who are legitimately homeschooling …
The School Board and Supt. have been bragging about reducing the drop out rate. Maybe the home school scam is the reason. Steve as you continue your inquiry, ask and compare these issues. Thank you this article.
Nice group mugshot above the article.
Now, “turn to the right!”
Title reversal testing in progress:
“Leon County Homeschool Students Increase Over Five Times Faster than State”
“Leon County schools $uck so badly that Students flee to home-schooling 5 times faster than state average”
Hmmmm – seems like a logical reversal.
But we really cannot know for sure until Mark weighs in with the latest Rocky/Notebook conspiracy theory.
Since 2015 High Schools in the state have been concerned about the number of students dropping out of school to go to an Adult Education program. If a student went to Adult Ed. they counted as a drop-out. If the High School reported the student as withdrawing to home school then it did not count as a dropout. Then the student could withdraw from home school and go to Adult Ed and the state did not pick it up. It is a loop hole in the drop out reporting system. Both Jackie and Rocky did this as requested by their staff. The legislature needs to close this loop hole.
Alex, I know from personal experience that your comments are 100% accurate; what goes on is an outrageous abuse of the intended record keeping of drop outs. Staff was continually told that DOE completely supported this policy of, so to speak, cooking the books. Dropout rate is incredibly important in the evaluation of education, and this county continues to misrepresent what is going on here. Shame on Rocky, his board and any principals who prop up this totally misleading practice. The county schools are far less successful than the numbers portray.
Does anybody know if Rocky is involved in this?