Navigating School Choice: Overcoming Barriers to Educational Opportunities for Families

As National School Choice Week celebrates educational options, the focus shifts to overcoming barriers that prevent families from making informed school choices for their children.

While millions celebrate National School Choice Week, which hosts over 27,000 events each January, ongoing challenges remain for many families navigating educational decisions.

Expanding Educational Options

For the past 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of being part of the National School Choice Week team, witnessing remarkable growth from just 150 events in 2011 to a staggering 27,000 in 2025.

This surge reflects a broader enthusiasm for expanding educational choices within K-12 education.

Today, parents encounter a wealth of options for their children’s schooling.

Recently, 16 states took steps to enhance access to different educational models, including traditional public schools, charter and magnet schools, private institutions, online setups, homeschooling, and various alternative education arrangements.

This expansion follows a successful year in 2023 when 20 states made similar moves to broaden school choice.

Challenges in School Choice

Yet, the way parents respond to these options paints a more intricate picture.

A recent survey by the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, for which I serve as president, shows that 60% of U.S. parents considered enrolling their children in different schools over the past year.

Although this figure has dipped from a high of 72% in the wake of the pandemic in 2024, the interest in exploring options remains significant.

Additionally, 60% of surveyed parents shared that they had discussions about different school choices, a 10-point increase from the previous year.

Despite this heightened interest, a critical barrier becomes evident: among those exploring alternative educational options, only 28% followed through by enrolling their children in a new school.

Previous studies highlight several obstacles that deter parents, even when opportunities for school choice exist.

Common challenges include difficulty with transportation, financial constraints, confusion about enrollment processes, and a general lack of time to navigate application forms.

Collaboration and Support

As advocates for educational choice, we must recognize and address these complexities families face.

Our mission should extend beyond merely promoting the availability of multiple school options; we need to offer tangible resources and assistance to help parents make informed decisions.

To address this growing need, the National School Choice Awareness Foundation has evolved its mission in recent years.

Each January, we present the most comprehensive online collection of school navigation resources in both English and Spanish.

Our initiatives, such as Navigate School Choice and Conoce tus Opciones Escolares, provide crucial support to millions of families, making it easier for them to explore their educational pathways.

However, this responsibility cannot fall to a single organization alone.

Numerous groups, like Families Empowered, GuidED Florida, Love Your School, NavigatED Arizona, and PA Families for Education Choice—part of the new Navigate School Choice Network—are instrumental in delivering personalized guidance to parents.

For the school choice movement to flourish, the continued expansion of these organizations is vital.

Effective communication with families is just as essential as advocating for policy change.

Navigating the educational landscape can be daunting, and many organizations involved in this important work often struggle, largely because they don’t fit into traditional nonprofit funding models.

As we celebrate National School Choice Week, we enjoy the participation of 9 million students, parents, educators, and supporters across the country, witnessing the excitement of thousands of events.

Yet, we recognize that significant hurdles still lie ahead.

By collaborating closely, we can bridge the divide between the available options and the actual ability to access them, ensuring that every family can navigate their choices and that every child has the chance for a quality education and a bright future.

Source: The74million