It’s looking less and less likely that public schools in populated areas will reopen this fall. And if they do, the students will need to follow so many new health-related requirements that parents have begun to wonder whether it’s even worth it.
The good news is they have options. A growing number of families, many of whom are still concerned about the coronavirus, are looking into homeschooling groups so that their children remain social, active, and physically safe. Others are turning to private schools that plan to open for in-person education. If anything, this ability to choose is a “silver lining,” according to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has long argued that the federal government should have as little to do with education as possible.
Many parents are beginning to discover this for themselves as they try to figure out how to educate their children while working full-time. Here’s one example: Valerie Kindt, the mother of a rising third grader, told the Washington Post that staying at home with her son this fall simply is not an option if she hopes to keep her job. But her son’s public school has already made it clear that it will not open its doors this fall and perhaps not at all next year. So, she’s pulling her son out of his public elementary school and enrolling him in a private school that plans to open in September. This is the kind of “education freedom” that allows parents to do it all, said DeVos.
DeVos faces no shortage of criticism from teachers unions and other quarters of the Left, but the coronavirus pandemic has, in some ways, proved her right. Parents do value school choice, whether they realize it or not.
Even before the pandemic, parents across the political spectrum agreed overwhelmingly that having options when it comes to education is vital. And now that many parents are being forced to explore those other options, support for school choice is bound to continue to grow.
