Why is School Choice Gaining Popularity?
As parents look into more options for educating their children, one that continues to gain popularity is school choice – the freedom to choose where your child goes to school.
Most residence of a community pay tax dollars to help subsidize the cost of education in their district. School choice allows parents the ability to decide how their tax dollars are being applied and more importantly, how their child is being educated.
There are many school choice options: Private schools, charter schools, homeschooling, and online learning. Having the ability to choose a school levels the playing field for families, while encouraging healthy competition among schools to better service their needs.
Over the last few years, parents have been taking their child’s education into their own hands. Empowering parents with the ability to handpick a school of choice makes them feel as if their child is receiving the best possible education and one that is appropriate to their level of learning. Some public schools are highly accomplished and parents may feel it’s too competitive and will create a stressful environment for their child. While other parents place high academic standards on their children and feel that their home school is not stringent enough. Yet, for others the choice stems from how their child will assimilate or behave within a certain environment.
Whatever the reason a parent decides to follow the path of school choice, there is no denying that there is a growing threat to public schools. Many have experienced a decline in enrollment over the years and a few have even been forced to close their doors.
As doors close, opportunities are being opened for choice schools. We’ve seen charter schools gaining popularity and registration and wait list numbers increasing. There are pros and cons to any decision, however the more we can provide equality in education and give children the same opportunity to learn, the better off we are as a society in producing successful adults.
There are many types of school choice programs. Each state has its own set of regulations regarding school choice. Some states, such as California do not offer private school choice programs, but do allow online and charter school options, as well as intradistrict and interdistrict public school choice. Visit Freedman Foundation for Education Choice and find out more information about school choice options in your state.