Editor’s note: This commentary from Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, appeared Tuesday on USA Today.
Schools are often regarded as the center of our society, and never has that been more true than now.
Issues of health, safety, social justice, economics and infrastructure intersect at the schoolhouse door. With so many different perspectives, who should we listen to? I say we should listen to parents.
Parents living through the COVID-19 pandemic got an unexpected crash course in navigating the complex world of K-12 education. And they are quick learners.
For many who saw their children wrestling with technology, disengaged or falling behind at home while their schools struggled to engage them in learning, there came an especially important lesson: There is another way.
By the hundreds of thousands, families made the decision last school year to enroll their children in charter schools – public schools that had the flexibility to adapt quickly during the crisis. Across the country, charter schools rapidly met children’s and families’ needs through remote learning, adapted curriculum, individual family outreach, even food and internet security.
A report by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools found charter school enrollment increased across the country as district public school enrollment decreased. Across 42 states, charter schools gained nearly 240,000 students, a 7% increase from the previous school year to 2020-21. Other public schools, including district-run schools, lost more than 1.4 million students, a 3.3% decrease from the previous school year.
A pandemic anomaly, skeptics might say. Not so. Parents have been trying to tell us all along.
To continue reading, click here.
