With remote learning going on for almost a year in some parts of the U.S., and new CDC guidance that could leave kids at home until May if not longer, education reformers say the case for school choice has never been more powerful. Families of all backgrounds should have the money and the power to decide among traditional public schools, charters and private and parochial options. Some states have already moved in that direction.
It is not just that the country’s parents are looking to get their children out of the house, and that our public schools (held hostage by teachers’ unions) don’t seem inclined to open anytime soon. We have also learned this year that parents even from the same neighborhoods and the same racial and socioeconomic groups want very different things from their children’s education, and there is no way a one-size-fits-all public school is going to be able to provide them.
It’s telling, certainly, that enrollment in public schools has suffered a record drop from last year, with as many as 6%, or 3 million students, currently not taking classes either remotely or in person. At the same time, private and parochial schools saw large surges in interest as many more of them opened their doors to in-person learning in September.