Rural areas don’t have enough school choice. Lawmakers should work to increase options

I did not understand the power that came with the notion of school choice as I made my way through the K-12 system: not every school is the best option for every student. Many others didn’t see it either. Addressing this lack of awareness in many parts of the country is the mission of The National School Choice Week organization. It started in 2011 to spread awareness of school choice options.

Growing up in a small town in Ohio I never heard the phrase “school choice”. My understanding of the educational system consisted of a student attending the school in the town in which they lived. A snippet of school choice became apparent as I learned about open enrollment and private schools. The idea of school choice remained unrecognizable even in these settings.

The use and understanding of school choice continue to grow, and Idaho is no stranger to school choice. Idaho has six options for school choice: traditional public schools, magnet schools, charter schools, online, homeschooling, and private schools.

Early in my professional career, I planned to work in traditional, public, rural schools, similar to the one I grew up in. However, opportunities have led me to various school types, including the charter school I now work in. I have a much better understanding of the true meaning of school choice.

At my current school, I see the power of school choice. Our school had a mission to provide students in more rural communities access to an International Baccalaureate (IB) education. The IB is a global organization that provides programming that develops life-long learners. While the school is still a candidate school, it is working to still provide this top-tier schooling.

Families in the community gained a new choice in the schooling for their children. In a rural community, students are no longer bound to the one neighborhood school in the area. It’s not to say these schools are less than great options, but they might not be the best option for all students.

The unfortunate truth is that school choice is less of a reality for many of our rural communities. A report written by the National Comprehensive Center indicated that only 32 percent of families in rural communities had access to school choice. Yet families in cities reported having more than 20 percent greater access (53 percent) to school choice.

In addition, the most remote rural communities reported having even less access. Charter schools, a growing new opportunity for school choice, only have 11 percent of all charter schools located in rural communities. Of that number, only 15 percent are in rural-remote communities.

More needs to be done to get school choice options into our rural communities. One school in a community does not ensure that students have the option to find a school that is the best fit for them. If our goal is to educate our students, we need to create more opportunities for our rural students. Roughly a fifth of students across the nation attends school in a rural community. We need to create opportunities that allow students to access school choice.

I’ve seen the impact school choice makes. My school serves a number of rural communities. It’s not the most convenient of options, but families value the choice. Students are thriving from the environment they are now in. Not every school will fit the needs of every student. Students need and deserve to have choices that will best support their educational careers.

We can do more. Policymakers and communities can create alternatives and find ways to innovate on options for school choice. Microschools, charter schools, online schools; all of these are possibilities for school choice in rural communities. It won’t be easy, but let’s start finding a way to bring more choice to the students of our rural communities.