Students first

When schools shut their doors in the spring of 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of universal education choice was largely academic. Some scholars were writing about the concept and a few legislators had proposed the idea, but no state had enacted a policy providing educational choice to all students. As of June 2024, 12 states now have universal choice policies. This dramatic change is good news for students and parents—and for the future of education.

Over the last three decades, a number of targeted educational choice programs emerged for low-income or special needs students. Advocates rightly argued that ZIP-code-assigned public schools were academically failing many of these students, as shown by test scores and parent dissatisfaction.

Then the pandemic dragged long-lurking issues out into the open: Ideologically driven curriculum. Some schools’ overt resistance to parental involvement. Then, prolonged school closures made clear that teachers unions considered students’ needs less important than other demands in the system.

Universal choice is poised to change that dynamic by shifting from a system-centered to a student-centered approach to education. A system-centered model funds district public schools regardless of how well they serve the students assigned to them. By contrast, universal choice is a student-centered model that allows funding to follow students, empowering parents to choose educational options based on their children’s needs and gifts.

This change also better reflects deeper realities about the nature of human beings. Education develops each person’s potential as created in the image of God with shared dignity and unique gifts. Parents, followed by other teachers, cultivate the capacities of students and enable those students in turn to cultivate the capacities of the world around them. In this way, education is a response to God’s call to human beings to develop creation.

Universal choice doesn’t just mean that more parents will have the resources to choose their children’s education providers. It also means that parents have the flexibility to configure a path of formation best suited to nurture each child’s potential as a whole person. Parents can take the initiative to pursue this educational vision in creative ways.

While state policies are expanding educational choice, supply-side changes are increasing the range of options from which parents can choose. Microschools, for example, have spread rapidly since the pandemic and offer alternatives to the status quo even in states that haven’t adopted robust choice options.

The microschool model isn’t new, notes Don Soifer, CEO of the National Microschooling Center. In fact, it’s something of a throwback to the one-room schoolhouse of centuries past, now with new technologies and ­pedagogies. These small, multifamily learning environments offer individualized support for each child’s educational path.

Parents are creating and choosing microschools for that personalization. Their reasons for valuing this educational approach are as diverse as their children. “Families prioritize different kinds of outcomes and different ways of showing impact,” says Soifer. That means this timeless model will require fresh thinking from policymakers and philanthropists so as not to stifle its revival.

This breakout season for parental choice in education is a reminder that enacting a law is just one aspect of policymaking. Successful and lasting change requires attention to implementation and vigilance against overregulation. With millions of students newly eligible for parent-directed education resources, the rollout of state policies is critical. Meanwhile, education providers need clarity that they can continue to operate with the independence that allows them to accomplish their mission.

Universal choice is changing the nature of education decision-making. This student-centered approach relies on parents to prioritize what matters most for their children’s holistic flourishing. Parents’ choices have the potential to foster a thriving new educational ecosystem. Policymakers’ imagination needs to grow alongside this emerging environment, so that they let innovation succeed rather than sapping its vitality.

—Jennifer Patterson is director of the Institute of Theology and Public Life at Reformed Theological Seminary (Washington, D.C.) and a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center