Voting with their feet
In a changing world, powerful economic and cultural trends should be understood, not ignored. For instance, policymakers should appreciate that millions more Americans are now working from home or in hybrid arrangements. And leaders should similarly appreciate the fact that, at least here in New York, families are drifting away from traditional public schools. The closing of eyes and ears and shouting of “nyah nyah nyah” is not constructive.
A new analysis from The Education Trust—New York shows that in every single region of the state, traditional public school enrollment fell between the 2017-18 and 2021-22 school years. The largest declines were in Rochester and New York City. Simultaneously, the number of kids in charter schools and being homeschooled rose. (Meanwhile, troubling national reporting by the Associated Press shows many thousands of children missing from school.)
The New York numbers aren’t huge, but are significant. Over the four-year period, statewide district-school enrollment slipped 8%, down to 2.275 million. Charter enrollment grew by 24%, to 173,000. The ranks of homeschoolers more than doubled, to just 54,000.
In the face of the shift, only woefully out-of-touch legislators would refuse to lift the onerous charter cap. Kudos to Gov. Hochul, who proposes raising the cap in New York City, for having a basic understanding of supply and demand.
The public schools must think long and hard about why many families are making the consequential decision to seek out other options. Culture-warrior Republicans would have us believe that the problem is schools’ increasing politicization, but that doesn’t track in the five boroughs, where families choosing to opt out are probably as liberal as the city at large.
A likelier story is that, when the pandemic hit, too many traditional public schools, flatfooted and dependent on rigid central bureaucracy, struggled to meet families’ academic and emotional needs. Now, as tests show widespread learning loss, they’re forced to play catch-up. Charters have been relatively nimble and responsive.
Here’s a radical idea: How about learning at least a little from what they’ve done right?