Where I grew up, almost everyone went to public school. We had one small, private religious school in the nearby city. However, our communities were built around the K-12 buildings in our districts. We not only received our education from the public school but our identity was wrapped up in it, especially the feats and failures of its football and basketball teams.
That experience, while widespread, is less and less the norm. An increasing number of families are opting out of traditional public schools, enrolling their children in charter and private schools or taking up some form of homeschooling. Only Rhode Island and Delaware saw an increase in the percentage of students enrolled in traditional public schools in the 2022-2023 school year. The numbers fell in all of the other 48 states.
These statistics result from several national trends. Many parents are frustrated by the…
