What the pandemic has taught us about school choice

In the Twin Cities, more children were educated in nonpublic and Catholic schools this year than last year, and even more than the year before that.

Why? Because some parents had the ability to move their kids to the schools that they believed would best educate them. Surveys conducted nationally indicate that if school choice — through tax credits, vouchers, or education savings accounts — had been available to parents during the pandemic, even more would have moved their children.

The reality is that some parents had the freedom to give their children different educational opportunities through one of the most tumultuous times in recent history. And some parents, specifically those with less economic means, did not.

Ricky Austin

The viability of school choice legislation has been debated for more than two decades. But the pandemic has highlighted a fundamental point, which happens to be a deeply rooted, Catholic belief: Parents are the first and best educators of their children. As such, they should have the right to choose the school they believe will serve their children best.

Providing that right is a matter of dignity.

No child’s hopes and dreams should be limited because their parents’ paycheck doesn’t afford them the opportunity to choose their school. And yet, too many parents do not have an alternative if their state-assigned school does not meet their child’s needs. Our society holds sacred the notions of freedom and opportunity for all, but not in education. It seems unconscionable that, during a global crisis, many parents had no true opportunity to send their children anywhere else.

The pandemic-induced chaos that many parents have experienced while trying to ensure their children get a good education has led to increased calls for school choice. Frustrated and fatigued, parents across the country have pushed lawmakers to pass more legislation than any other time in history. Thirty-one states now offer programs that support parents who choose a nonpublic or Catholic school for their children. It’s time for Minnesota to join them. Why now? Here are two lessons from these last two years that help answer that question:

1. A one-size-fits-all approach to K-12 education does not work

How do we make up two years of disrupted learning for a generation of children? We begin by looking at what did work during those two years.

Stability, a sense of connection, and clear communication were crucial in helping children weather the pandemic. Some students found this in their public schools. But many others experienced prolonged closures and constant disruptions. Some students found these benefits through virtual learning, homeschooling, charter schools, learning pods, or micro-schools. All these options, where they worked, should be applauded.

At the Aim Higher Foundation, where we offer tuition assistance that empowers parents to choose a Catholic education for their children, we have witnessed Catholic schools achieve at-scale successes during the pandemic that no other system did. Unfortunately, because many families do not have the funds to pay for tuition, these successes were out of reach for so many children who would have benefited.

2. Public education doesn’t mean public schools. It means a responsibility to educate the public. 

We still do not fully know the scale of the educational challenges the pandemic has created. Proficiency rates in math and reading have plummeted in Minnesota and across the country. We continue to hear widespread reports about students who are not showing up to school, or who cannot consistently attend due to frequent closures or quarantines. What will the consequences of this be in a decade? Two decades? Will high schools and colleges need to spend precious resources on remediation? Will employers need to provide more training for entry-level positions? Will our country be able to compete globally?

We have to revisit the notion that public education means public schools. The public can and should be invested in ensuring all children can learn in a school that best meets their needs and goals.

Although Minnesota is home to some great public schools, it is also home to the country’s second-largest achievement gap between white students and students of color, many of whom’s public schools are not meeting their needs. If a nonpublic school, like one of the Catholic schools in this archdiocese, can help close that gap right now — today — we should be giving parents the option to choose that school.

Right now. Today.

Austin is vice president of advancement and operations for the St. Paul-based Aim Higher Foundation, which provides tuition-assistance scholarships for students attending Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.