Remote learning is leaving working parents with few options, big bills

By Cole Lauterbach | The Center Square

Many public school districts across the country have shifted from offering some in-person learning options for students to offering only remote learning at the start of the school year.

The change in plans sent many working parents rushing to find either a place for their kids to go while they work or to find a caregiver they could pay to supervise remote learning at home. Either option could end up costing parents thousands of dollars.

Public domain

“Parents are scrambling,” said Christy McGlothlin, founder of Home Rule Inc., a home child care company that recently expanded to offer services nationwide amidst the pandemic.
“They’re having to limit their working hours. They’re having to call out of work. There are parents that are losing their jobs.”

A new study released Thursday from BankRate found 3 out of 5 parents nationwide said remote learning will negatively impact their finances, with more than a third saying they would have to either reduce their hours at work or quit altogether.

“These findings suggest the economic recovery will continue to be slow,” said Ted Rossman, industry analyst at Bankrate. “Most students will be learning remotely this fall, and that alone will strain more than half of their parents’ household budgets.”

Some private schools are offering in-person instruction this fall, but the rush to secure spots and the cost of private school put that option out of reach for many families.

“Parents are scrambling,” said Christy McGlothlin, founder of Home Rule Inc., a home child care company that recently expanded to offer services nationwide amidst the pandemic.

“They’re having to limit their working hours. They’re having to call out of work. There are parents that are losing their jobs.”

McGlothlin said her service offers competitive prices to other childcare companies but still admits an entire year of in-home childcare can cost thousands of dollars.

In Illinois, nearly 1 million students will be learning remotely when school starts, according to results from an Illinois State Board of Education survey.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has offered guidance for schools to provide in-person learning. Many rural and some suburban districts plan to do so, but many other schools, including Chicago Public Schools and districts in the collar counties, announced they would not be offering any type of in-person option for the start of the school year.

The Chicago Teachers’ Union opposed in-person learning for safety reasons and threatened to strike over the decision to provide some sort of in-person learning option.

Pritzker said Sunday he would not mandate any in-person learning because some schools would not be able to offer it.

In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey ordered schools to provide an in-person model upon request, which brought criticism from teachers and unions.

In California, strict requirements from Gov. Gavin Newsom have forced parents to form “pandemic pods,” or groups of families that split the cost of private in-person education. According to a CNBC report, some estimates of expenses for in-person teaching in California average $50 an hour with more costs per student.

Florida teachers’ unions are suing local districts to keep them from offering in-person learning.

Image courtesy of Public domain

One thought on “Remote learning is leaving working parents with few options, big bills

  1. Okay. There is no excuse for parents to not figure this out.. and people that have the skills and knowledge need to step up and organize this all better and all work together to help parents make plans and learn.

    New Hampshire is one of the best states in the country to Homeschool in- and this is not new. And here we are right next door and willing to help share what we have.
    We actually attract a lot of families here specifically to Homeschool.
    We are VERY organized here and watch the state like a hawk and are ready to roll when things arise that threaten what we have built. The President said twice that NH is leading the country right now on remote learning and a huge part of this is because we have such a well oiled Homeschooling machine in place already. We also have an Education Commissioner that Homeschooled his own seven kids.
    So what a huge difference it makes when you hire someone qualified to do the job and not someone that is a certain color, gender or all of that baloney.
    Our kids are doing very well over here because we made a darn good hire.

    There are two very good groups here that are the Granite State Home Educators and then there is the NH Homeschooling Coalition. You can also go to our Dept of Ed. and there is a Homeschooling section there that is a mountain of information.

    Another thing that we have is a childrens scholarship fund.. this is another well organized and funded thing that parents needing financial assistance can utilize. You need all of this stuff happening to make this work. There are groups all over the state.
    Parents need to learn How TO Homeschool, they need to do some research about Education, what are their ideas, their beliefs, what are their kids needs and learning styles?
    You can teach your kids in many different ways and there is a wealth of information and curricula out there that is FREE. You just need to get out of the public education world and into the REAL Home Schooling World.
    Most of us would tell you that following the public schools curricula off a screen is not really “Homeschooling”. It’s not at all what most of us do.
    This is something that has a steep learning curve, some learning and a lot of Personal Responsibility, and sacrifice needs to happen from parents and the support system around families to make this work well.
    You need to remember, these are YOUR Kids that YOU had, and its really, in all reality, not up to the taxpayers to raise your kids in a school.
    You might have to give up the two new cars, the big house, vacations and learn to live within your means.. you might not be able to afford to live in one of the most expensive states in the country.
    But raising a high quality family is certainly all worth it for you and us as a country and states.

    Having a culture of such government reliant people is a lot of the reason that Vermont has become such an expensive Nanny State and this all needs to change with a $400 million dollar budget shortfall- I would imagine.
    Roll up your sleeves and get it done, this is a tremendous opportunity for ALL.

Comments are closed.