Homeschoolers Bribed to Boost Public School Enrollment

A South Dakota superintendent is receiving heavy criticism for offering a bribe to homeschoolers to boost his public school’s enrollment for a day.

This school year, the Mount Rushmore State is using student enrollment on September 29 to determine funding for the next school year. In an attempt to put more students in his district’s seats that day, Superintendent Mike Lodmel sent a letter to approximately 30-40 homeschool families offering a laptop, Chromebook, or iPad in return for one day of attendance.

“Our district would like to extend an invitation to our homeschool families that we feel is a win-win for both our district and our homeschool families,” Lodmel wrote in the letter, which was obtained by the Argus Leader.

However, the plan, which an attorney said was perfectly legal and was approved unanimously by the school’s board, quickly backfired on the Tri-Valley School District located near the small town of Colton in southeastern South Dakota. Not only were the homeschoolers who received the letter offended, but state officials also were furious.

“The governor views this as a tactic to try to scam the state funding formula,” said Tony Venhuizen, the governor’s chief of staff. Gov. Dennis Daugaard also “asked Lodmel to rescind his offer to homeschoolers and removed him from a school finance accountability board created to ensure districts comply with state funding formula requirements.”

In response to the governor, Tri-Valley rescinded the offer. Meanwhile, state legislators are already beginning to take action to ensure that a similar situation never happens again.

“It’s an attempt to blatantly defraud the state and the taxpayers at the expense of homeschool children,” said state representative Sue Peterson. “I think it’s an act in bad faith. This is a breach of ethics.”