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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A newly elected Lincoln Board of Education member is coming under fire for home-schooling his elementary-aged children, despite his campaign promise to enroll them in public school.
Board member Matt Schulte, who was elected in May, had said on a candidate questionnaire and in interviews with news outlets that his children would attend Maxey Elementary this fall, the Lincoln Journal Star reported (http://bit.ly/1KgktKO ).
But Schulte confirmed this week to the newspaper that his second-grade son and kindergarten-aged daughter will be home-schooled this year.
"After much thought and prayer we have decided not to send our two oldest children to public school this year," Schulte said in a prepared statement. "This does not reflect in any way on the quality of education LPS provides, but is clearly the best educational choice for our children."
Rita Bennett, president of the Lincoln Education Association, said she's disappointed that Schulte broke his campaign pledge.
"We think LPS offers a really high quality education, and it feels like a lack of confidence," she said of Schulte's decision to keep his children home.
Schulte, executive director of Christian youth ministry Campus Life in Lincoln, narrowly defeated incumbent Katie McLeese Stephenson, who raised the home-schooling issue during the campaign, as did a group called Every Student Counts.
Ed Zimmer, who retired from the school board after serving nearly two decades, said he cannot remember another board member who chose not to enroll their children in Lincoln Public Schools.
Schulte said he doesn't think his choice to home-school his children diminishes his ability to serve on the public school board.
"I really want to have a great public school system," he said. "And as a taxpayer and voter, I think all of us should care about our public schools, even if we don't have kids in public schools."
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com
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