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By Brian Mark Weber

As families return from vacations, they start thinking about sending their kids back to school (if they’re not back already). But in the post-pandemic era, there’s an increasing likelihood that some parents aren’t sending their children back to the same school. In particular, data suggest that many parents have had enough with public school education altogether.

“In the past two years, a mass exodus of over 1.2 million students has left the public school system as parents seek alternative education routes, such as public charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling,” writes Marjorie Jackson at The Daily Signal. Jackson adds that some parents “believed the school’s handling of the pandemic was unsatisfactory, due to lockdowns, which inconvenienced many families, as well as masking and vaccination policies. Others were unhappy after taking a closer look at their local public school curriculum and wanted more say in what their children were learning.”

Many parents who wanted their kids to learn how to read and write, not learn about critical race theory or gender theory, were targeted not only by the media and their school districts but by Attorney General Merrick Garland. In 2021, the National School Boards Association asked Garland to investigate parents who had the audacity to speak out at school board meetings (the NSBA later disavowed the letter).

For all these reasons (and more) parents have had enough. Fortunately, something very good has emerged from a bad situation: school choice.

“Last year, 19 states enacted 32 new or expanded school choice policies, making 2021 ‘the year of school choice,’” the Washington Examiner reports. “Now, a total of 21 states and Washington, D.C., offer school choice programs that give parents financial assistance and private school options.”