Hawaii Private vs. Public School Cost

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

my school caters to the stupid and the angry

terracore, should your daughter ever wish to organize a fund raiser for Keaau High School, t-shirts, hats and the like promoting their unofficial school motto, it sounds much better in Latin:

Stultus et Iratus

No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind. -Miguel de Cervantes, novelist (1547-1616)

[ericlp]

The problem with public vs private....

If a bad apple goes to a private school, he/she soon gets booted as only give a few chances and if they continue to mess up, they are sent back to public school.

So you normally have a better 'quality' of kids that want to learn and usually get the cream of the crop. But, then there is the money issue as well, but I won't get into that aspect of it.

Religious schools fall into a whole separate category. In my book, if schools want to deny evolution and parts of science...If they want to teach about religion, than teach about ALL religions. Otherwise, they should not be wasted by our tax dollars. IMO.

[EightFingers]

quote:

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Originally posted by Chunkster

Today's local paper had this interesting article on private school enrollment on the Big Island:

http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...te-schools

What really caught my eye was the comparative per head cost of private vs. publis schools in Hawaii. Snipped from the article:

"The average yearly price tag to attend private schools on Hawaii Island was $7,709 in 2015-16, a $42 increase from the year prior.

Statewide, private school tuition averaged $8,633 in 2015-16 — up from $7,535 the year prior. For comparison, per pupil spending among Hawaii public school students was $14,434."

Now looking at this in simplistic terms, we appear to be paying about 80% more for a poorly regarded public school system than it costs to privately educate students. Of course, the fact that the private schools generally produce better results has a lot to do with cherry picking the best students and not doing much in the way of special ed. Still, this has to make one wonder if we couldn't be spending our education tax dollars in better ways that the current public school system.

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Hawaii schools are a huge improvement over the school district I moved from. The spending per student there is over $15000 a year. Pahoa high school is a walk in the park compared to the one I graduated from.

[terracore]

"terracore, should your daughter ever wish to organize a fund raiser for Keaau High School, t-shirts, hats and the like promoting their unofficial school motto, it sounds much better in Latin:"

While not a bad idea, she came up with her own slogan. Her last HS course completed before xfering to Keaau was pre-calc, but Keaau tried to stick her in basic math. She refused to go, at one point going into the principal's office and telling him she could TEACH basic math. So they made an effort and put her into a Maui calculus course via Skype. It didn't work out because the Maui teacher didn't integrate the 4-5 Keaau students into their course (it was just like watching a recorded video of a high school calculus course which was 2/3 the time students just goofing off and other distractions) so she passed that class by learning calculus watching youtube videos. So the slogan was: "Hawaii public schools: Almost as good as youtube."

Incidentally, she did actually wind up teaching basic math at Keaau the following year through their mentoring program.

ETA: I know I've posted these stories before. I don't repeat them because I have an axe to grind, I do believe Keaau HS did the best job they could given their resources. Her individual teachers were great. If I repeat the stories, it is because I'm proud of my daughter.