Guest Author
Krystal Steele’s daughter was in an elementary school last year that didn’t work for her. So Steele did what hundreds of thousands of Florida parents now do every year: She secured a school choice scholarship.
For most families, that would have been the happy ending. But Steele wanted a Christian school, and she couldn’t find one near their home in a booming part of Central Florida that still had available seats.
In the end, Steele enrolled her daughter in a charter school. And while she’s satisfied – the school is better, her daughter is thriving – it’s not exactly what she wants.
Steele and her family aren’t alone.
Last year, about 41,000 Florida students were awarded scholarships from the state’s two main private school choice programs, but never used them. We wanted to find out why, so we asked their parents. The result is a special report, “Going With Plan B.”
Our survey is believed to be the first to focus on parents who declined to use choice scholarships. We believe the findings can better inform policymakers not only in Florida, which leads the nation in education choice, but also in other states where choice is gaining traction.
The parents left us with three main takeaways, all exemplified by Steele and her daughter:
— Thousands of families wanted to use their scholarships but couldn’t.
— Many still found options they considered better than their prior schools.
— Many still want a private school.
The first takeaway is the least surprising, but the most pressing. Florida is experiencing supply-side challenges with private schools, and given the rapid growth of scholarship programs, it’s no wonder. Over the past 10 years, the number of private schools has grown by 31%, far exceeding total, statewide K-12 enrollment growth of 12%.
And yet, it’s not enough. A third of the respondents (34.7%) said the school they wanted didn’t have room. At the same time, 19.7% stated that the scholarship amount was insufficient to cover tuition and fees. For lower-income respondents, the rate was 21.4%.
But then, a twist. Even without the scholarships, many families still found other — and better — options. A third of respondents (36.5%) switched school types entirely (like going from a zoned neighborhood school to a magnet school). And more experienced a positive rather than negative shift in satisfaction with the schools their kids ended up in (20.4% to 10.5%).
We didn’t see that coming.
This is one result, we think, of school choice becoming the new normal. More than 50% of Florida students are enrolled in something other than their zoned neighborhood schools, up from 10% a generation ago.
We think all that choice is changing expectations, too. As options bloom, ever more parents are realizing they don’t have to settle for a school that’s merely better. They can have the school that’s just right.
The final takeaway from the survey speaks to that: 66.7% of respondents, like Steele, said they would apply for choice scholarships again. That includes 63.0% of those who switched school types and 55.5% of those who reported being satisfied after doing so.
A few things could help more parents get what they want.
It’s not hard, in Florida or anywhere else, to find building and zoning codes that appear to be unfairly impeding the creation of new private schools, particularly more innovative models like microschools. Last year, Florida took a step in the right direction, by adding more zoning flexibility for educational uses in certain types of buildings.
Judging by the survey results, though, parents appreciate other types of schools, too, and now routinely interact with multiple sectors. Choice advocates have long advocated for the development of better information, navigation, and transportation systems, so more families can find and access the learning providers they want, no matter what kind.
As choice revs into the next phase, all those things will be a bigger deal – and from what the parents are telling us, it might already be crunch time.
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Ron Matus is a director of research and special projects at Step Up For Students, the nonprofit that administers Florida’s education choice scholarship programs, and a former newspaper reporter. Dava Cherry is the former director of enterprise data and research at Step Up and a one-time public-school teacher.
