More Choice Equals More Opportunity for Young People

Those who support providing families with more choices of schools for their children have much to celebrate during this year’s National School Choice Week.

Today, Americans of all ages not only want more education options. They are voting with their feet and choosing from a growing catalog of options. The result is that these choices make traditional public schools better.

So a new era in family education freedom and opportunity pluralism is here, giving young people multiple pathways to pursue opportunity and flourish. 

Here are four facts worth highlighting as we celebrate National School Choice Week.  

Fact 1: Americans want more education options. Morning Consult’s 2023 nationally representative monthly poll findings show Americans support policies that provide families with access to more education options. For example, around three of four parents support allowing them to choose public charter schools; participate in open enrollment so their child can attend a public school other than the one assigned to them; use education savings accounts (ESAs) giving them state-supervised funds to use for private school tuition or other educational services; and benefit from vouchers which let them use taxpayer dollars to pay for their child attending a private school. Roughly two of three members of the general public also support these policies. ESAs are especially popular among those who identify as liberals, who support these programs at a higher rate than conservative respondents. And roughly two of three Gen Z and Baby Boomers support ESAs. Record numbers of state policymakers have responded to this demand for more options. For example, thirteen states now have ESA programs.

Fact 2: Americans are choosing new education options. The pandemic produced an exodus from public schools of over 1 million students. The New York Times calls it a “supersized . . . seismic hit” (though declining birth and immigration rates played a role as well). Parents opted for a variety of different options for their children, including public charter schools, where enrollment continues to increase; private and parochial schools; micro-schools; and learning pods. And in states with school voucher programs, more people than planned are applying for them. Additionally, homeschooling enrollment hit record levels to become what the Washington Post calls “America’s fastest growing form of education.” Finally, a series of seven EMC Group polls shows that Gen Z high schoolers want more options than the traditional high school offers, including online courses, “boot camps” on specific topics, and internships and apprenticeships that give them “real-world” experience. 

Fact 3: School choice makes schools better. There is extensive research evidence on the effects that school choice programs have on traditional schools. Many feared that giving families more choices of schools would undermine traditional public schools. A recent book by Cara Fitzpatrick titled The Death of Public Schools concludes the opposite: “Contrary to what some critics claim, traditional public schools have seen some positive effects from competition.” The Fordham Institute has chronicled these studies of competitive effects, including those that examine the results of charter school competition and private school competition. And a recent National Bureau of Economic Research study of a Los Angeles school district public school choice program shows improved student outcomes and narrowed achievement and college enrollment gaps between traditional district schools with attendance boundaries and district choice schools without attendance boundaries. The Fordham report concludes: “We should root for all these [policies because they are] generally good for families taking advantage of greater options, while also helping to improve traditional public schools.”

Fact 4: Ending the Blaine Amendments contributes to expanding education freedom. In 1875, Republican Congressman James G. Blaine of Maine, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, proposed a U.S. Constitutional amendment to outlaw government aid to educational institutions with a religious affiliation. In particular, it targeted Catholic schools serving large immigrant populations. Blaine failed, but his idea led states to add similar provisions to their constitutions that bar the use of taxpayer dollars for private school expenses. Today, 37 state constitutions have Blaine amendments. Under the rubric of “separation of church and state,” these amendments have been an often deployed roadblock to school choice programs that include religious schools. Between 2017 and 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued three rulings that rang the death bell for the Blaine Amendments. Some legal questions remain—for example, can there be religious charter schools? But these three Court decisions are a major step forward in expanding education freedom in all the states.

These four facts are worth celebrating during National School Choice Week. Together, they create a K-12 education system focused on meeting the different needs of families and students. They highlight a new era in family education freedom that makes states and communities laboratories of democracy where families exercise this freedom through implementation pluralism. The result is that young people now have more education pathways to pursue opportunities and reach their potential.