The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted several long-term societal problems that were bubbling under the surface, just waiting to explode. The state of public education no doubt falls into that category, with many parents engaged but largely unaware of the state of their child’s education until directly confronted with how little many public school systems did to ensure learning continued during the pandemic. The opportunity to peer into classrooms via endless remote Zoom lessons gave parents a better picture of the quality of their child’s education — and left them eager for alternatives.
The effect of this jarring change to education is clear: State Policy Network polling shows that 79% of voters think parents should have more options in public education.
As shocked parents grappled with the reality of public schools, parental involvement, attendance at school board meetings, and support for school choice spiked, with some advocates calling 2021 “the year of school choice.” But while significant progress was made in many states over the last few years, 2022 included some significant setbacks.
Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox vowed to veto a choice scholarship program even if it passed the state House, which it didn’t. The Georgia Senate killed the Educational Freedom Act, which would have created state-funded scholarships for private school tuition. West Virginia’s near-universal Educational Savings Scholarship Account, the Hope Scholarship, is tied up in litigation for allegedly violating the state’s Constitution by providing money to a private education system outside the established public one.
The fight in West Virginia, especially, highlights one of the key arguments made against school choice — that public funds should not go toward private goods. But this argument does not address why choice opponents won’t work to allow more parental choice and individualized education within the public system.
In “the year of school choice,” Rhode Island , which has a notoriously aggressive teachers union, passed a proactive moratorium on new charter schools despite the fact that existing charter schools in the state consistently show strong academic performance and that the Providence School District performed so poorly in 2019 that the state was forced to take over the district.
Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that are independently run. They are a valuable education option for many students, especially those from low-income families who can’t afford private alternatives. Yet many states, including Rhode Island, Virginia, and Kansas, have long put the authority to start new charters with local districts that have no reason to let someone in on their monopoly and typically don’t.
But public charters are popular. Nationwide, 2 in 3 favor charter schools. One might assume states such as Rhode Island are following the public will by blocking charter school expansion, but even in that deep-blue state, 53 % support the expansion of charters compared to 32% who oppose it. That’s because these schools allow parents some degree of choice for their children even if they can’t afford private school or to move to a better-performing district. Even President Joe Biden recognized the benefit, or at least the detriment to blocking charter schools, because he scrapped regulations that would have stifled the expansion of these alternative schools.
There are ways to expand options for students within the public system. More than half of states have inter-district programs that allow students to enroll in a public school outside of their assigned district. These types of policies let parents shop around, within the confines of the public system, for a school that meets their child’s specific needs. States that do not have these types of programs, or have programs where schools can decide to reject out-of-district students, would be wise to offer parents this choice if they want families to continue to support the public school system.
Furthermore, 35 states offer full-time, free, online K-12 education, giving families even more flexibility in the way children are educated. There are many models and resources to help the remaining states develop these options.
While the debate rages on about if, when, and how states can rely on private institutions to provide public education, there are many ways states can expand options for students within their public systems. That’s something even those opposed to the blurring of public and private education should be able to get behind.
Erin Norman is the Lee family fellow and senior messaging strategist at State Policy Network.
