Research confirms parents use school choice to find safer schools with better education 

Concerns about school safety and lagging academics are the main reasons parents take advantage of school choice programs, new research from EdChoice confirms.

“Enrollments in choice programs surge when parents perceive that students are not being protected and educated effectively in public schools,” writes Misty Gallo, a University of Arkansas professor who conducted the research along with another professor and a researcher from EdChoice.

“Measures of school quality, particularly eighth grade academic achievement and school safety, showed a strong relationship with school choice participation,” she said in a post summarizing the findings.

The study of more than 50 school choice programs found features such as access to public school extracurriculars, transportation or mandatory testing did not consistently affect participation rates.

Instead, the consistent thread was concern that students were being bullied or unsafe, or that they weren’t learning enough.

“Parents look for alternatives when they are aware that the well-being of their children is imperiled through physical or psychological harassment or academic shortcomings,” Gallo wrote. Government data from the National Center for Education Statistics “paint a bleak picture of public school safety, and parent perspectives track the government data.”

In the 2021-22 school year, there were about 857,000 violent incidents such as rape or attempted rape, sexual assault other than rape, robbery, physical attacks or fights, and threats of physical attack, as well as 479,500 nonviolent incidents.

Even though nearly half of traditional public schools employ school resource officers for safety – a far greater rate than charter or private schools – their violence rates are also higher. Bullying is also more prevalent in public schools, NCES found.

“When public schools are not equipped to limit exposure to bullying, and when the academics of the middle school years are insufficient, parents flee the public schools if they can access financial support from private school choice programs,” Gallo wrote.

The study’s conclusion notes school choice continues to grow, with momentum in many states that don’t yet have programs, as well as strong support from President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress.