Public Schools Feel the Drain As Over 1 Million Families Turn To Homeschooling or Charter Schools

By A. P. Lorenzo

The National Center for Educational Statistics reports that since the Covid-19 pandemic began, nationwide public school populations fell significantly and those students (and parents) who have left school districts have looked to homeschooling and/or charter schools to provide a more satisfactory education.

In past years, some charter school systems have been beset by opposition from public school administrations and Departments of Education, but with these new findings of a leaking school attendance that is moving to charter schools, the present and future looks much better for alternative forms of education. While most of the student movement away from public schools is in the Pre-K and K grade groups, elementary and high school students are also part of the exodus – and show signs of a continuing trend for years to come.

Many parents have publicly expressed their permanent dissatisfaction with their public schools’ performance and that even when the pandemic is history, they intend to continue to homeschool their children. Many of these parents may also partake of the charter school resources in their locales, which often allow for parental autonomy, working hand-in-hand with faculty of the charter school. This could be called “half-homeschooling” and it solves many of the shortcomings of public schools that parents object to.

In the coming months, it will be interesting to track the movement of families away from public schools and into the realms of viable educational alternatives and the effect this has on society years from now.

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