This School Choice Week Is a Consequential Moment

Every January, parents, students, schools, and elected officials mark School Choice Week with rallies, proclamations, and speeches. The ceremonial traditions are familiar. But for most families, what does School Choice Week actually mean for their children? 

In 2026, the answer takes on new meaning. 

For the first time, school choice is more than just where students enroll. A landmark federal scholarship tax credit, growing state adoption of new pro-education choice policies, sustained post-pandemic parent dissatisfaction, and rapid technological advancements have converged to form a new education paradigm. Education is no longer in the hands of education bureaucracies. It is being redesigned by parents. 

This year marks the moment school choice stopped being a debate topic and became the driver of grassroots change. 

School choice is not new. Some states have offered private scholarship programs, education savings accounts, and tax credits for decades. What is new is the scale and momentum. Participation in private school choice programs topped 1.5 million students this year, a dramatic increase from 600,000 in 2020.  

This growth mirrors broader shifts in family behavior and sentiment. Parents across income levels, geographies, and political affiliations are actively seeking options that work for their children. Declining birth rates play a role: national public school enrollment is expected to drop from 50.8 million in 2019 to 46.9 million by 2031. Meanwhile, a record-low 35% of Americans say they are satisfied with the education K-12 students are receiving. 

Families once viewed school choice as an alternative to the system. Today, they increasingly see it as the engine of educational innovation. 

The pandemic was a turning point. Prolonged disruptions to in-person learning shattered confidence in one-size-fits-all education. Families experienced systems prioritizing institutional convenience over student needs. School choice did not create dissatisfaction — it revealed it. Parents saw that flexibility and personalization mattered. The pandemic removed any remaining doubts about the need for increased options. 

Those expectations did not recede when classrooms reopened. They hardened. A 2026 national survey found that 75% of U.S. parents considered, searched for, or enrolled in a different school for their child in 2025 – the highest level in five years. 

Traditional education still mirrors the industrial-era factory model: fixed schedules, standardized testing, and limited customization. Today’s students, by contrast, live in a world defined by personalization, technology, and choice. 

Education is now innovating in ways that reflect our rapidly adapting world. AI-driven tutoring, hybrid schedules, career and skills-based education, faith-based and classical schools, STEM-focused programs, and project-based learning. These models succeed not because they are mandated, but because they respond to family needs – something centralized systems struggle to do. 

In doing so, school choice breaks barriers that once reserved customized education for the elite. It expands opportunities to families who previously had none. In Ohio, students who participated in the EdChoice Scholarship Program were 64% more likely to attend college compared to 48% of similar public-school students, with especially strong gains among students from challenging backgrounds. 

The new federal scholarship tax credit will accelerate this shift. It scales what is already working at the state level, respects state leadership and parental decision-making, and mobilizes private investment for the public good. It is best understood as building infrastructure, not ideology. 

Washington is not running our schools. Policies like the federal scholarship tax credit are empowering families and states to lead the way. Multiple pathways will allow families to access types of education they value, whether private school tuition, tutoring, homeschooling support, or learning beyond the classroom. 

This School Choice Week marks the transition from arguing about choice to building with it. Families are already leading the way. 

For the first time, the national conversation is no longer about whether education should change. It is about who gets to lead that change, and whether we are willing to trust families to do so. I certainly do.