Tom Greene is the National Legislative Director for ExcelinEd in Action. In this role, he manages the organization’s advocacy team and works with leaders and lawmakers from across the states to promote student-centered solutions.
Educational choice feels as though it’s becoming inevitable across the country as more and more states look to create new school choice programs or expand existing ones to serve all families.
Yet in many states where there is strong public support for choice, legislative efforts often encounter roadblocks among rural policymakers who believe access to more K-12 options will harm their local public schools or will not provide the promised options for students in their rural districts.
Let’s dive into the arguments school choice opponents use in rural areas—and we’ll make the case why these communities should embrace educational opportunity, not fear it. It all starts with a conversation about school choice itself and why families need options regardless of where they live.
In a nutshell, school choice is the idea that families should have options for their children’s education, not be limited just to their assigned neighborhood public school. This could mean picking a different public school within or outside of the district; selecting a public charter school or magnet school; or opting for a private school or customized learning environment such as a virtual school, microschool or learning pod.
Historically, families have only been able to access private schools by paying tuition or obtaining scholarship funding. States with private school choice programs changed that dynamic, putting those schools within reach for parents who might otherwise not be able to afford them.
Three mechanisms typically enable private school choice: school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships and education scholarship accounts, or ESAs (these are also called education savings accounts or education freedom accounts, depending on the state).
ESAs are our preferred—and also the fastest growing—type of private education choice program. They give families access to an account loaded with scholarship funds that they can use on the widest variety of approved educational expenses, whether that’s tuition, educational therapies, tutoring, curriculum, materials and sometimes even transportation. Many ESAs also allow families to roll leftover funds into a college savings account. Vouchers and tax-credit scholarships, while still useful, tend to be restricted to only pay for private school tuition.
“School choice” is the most common phrase used to describe these kinds of parent-directed programs. Other common terms you’ll hear that all mean the same thing include “parental choice,” “educational freedom” and “educational opportunity.”
There are a number of diverse reasons why parents may seek schooling options outside of their assigned neighborhood school:
Overall, school choice gives parents the freedom and flexibility to make decisions based on their children’s individual needs and circumstances. This ultimately contributes to better educational outcomes and increased parental satisfaction with their child’s schooling experience.
The educational landscape of rural communities often looks quite different from urban and suburban areas. There are fewer residents, and they live farther apart, raising concerns about how kids physically get to new school options and whether those options might take away resources from existing schools.
One of the most common concerns raised by rural policymakers and their communities regarding school choice programs is the financial impact on local public schools, which may even be the primary employer in some small towns. This can lead to a fierce sense of loyalty to those schools.
Additionally, there are worries that school choice programs might worsen existing issues, particularly in rural areas where resources for schools may already be limited. Critics argue that diverting funds from traditional public schools could further strain a community’s ability to provide a quality education for students.
There’s no doubt rural schools face unique challenges, which is why, on the surface, some of these concerns might sound plausible.
Understandably, there’s an inherent emotional connection to a local public school when the people who work there are neighbors, family members and friends. Traditional public schools also play an important cultural role in rural communities bringing the community together for special events and sports competitions. And it’s true that new options for learning may pull students—and their associated funding—away from traditional schools that are not meeting the students’ needs.
That’s why when we talk about school choice, we have to prioritize what students need over school finances. By taking steps to diversify course offerings and schooling types, a community will be better able to serve all students and ensure they are prepared for success in life and the workplace.
And when it comes specifically to rural areas, we know that policies offering part-time school enrollment and ESAs to families can benefit districts by allowing funds to follow students who take individual courses or activities there.
Last year, Jason Bedrick and Matt Ladner at the Heritage Foundation published a report showing families in rural areas have more access to public and private school alternatives than ever before:
No one school can meet the needs of all children who just happen to live nearby. Families in rural areas deserve more education options. By embracing education choice policies, state lawmakers can deliver on the promise of America’s education system and ensure that all children have access to the learning environment that best meets their individual needs. Policymakers who want to increase education options for rural families should enact education choice policies, such as K–12 education savings accounts, and broaden charter school laws to make it easier to open them in rural areas.
Jason Bedrick and Matt Ladner, Heritage Foundation
In Florida and Arizona, where school choice programs are well-established and have a long history, families in rural areas have access to a diverse range of educational options that cater to their children’s unique needs.
A recent study of families using one of Florida’s popular ESAs found that rural families—even more so than urban and suburban families—tapped into a greater variety of supports to achieve customized learning environments for their children.
Even with new options in place, it’s important to note for critics that a majority of families will still choose the traditional public school option. A recent report found that the vast majority of Florida’s rural families (83%) still choose district schools for their child’s education. ESAs have not disrupted the traditional system, but they have created alternatives and allowed more children to get into an educational setting that’s right for them.
When it comes to rural choice, as Corey DeAngelis with the American Federation for Children noted in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, “the nine most rural states in the country (as measured by population share) now have some form of private school choice. Maine and Vermont have the oldest private-school voucher programs in the U.S., both enacted in the late 19th century for students who live in rural districts without public schools.”
Strategies to meet the needs of rural students may not be new, but it’s time for more rural options so every one of those students can be in a learning environment that supports them best.
According to EdChoice, researchers have published nearly 190 empirical studies on the effectiveness of American private school choice programs. From examining how these programs affect student performance to parent satisfaction and even fiscal health of public schools, the vast majority of those studies show positive effects.
Probably the most important finding is this: There is a direct causal link between choice programs and student test scores and longer-term educational attainment. Where choice is available, public school and choice program students’ academic performance improves, and the students tend to enroll and persist in college at higher rates.
Consider this data from Arizona: Between 2007 and 2019, fourth-grade and eighth-grade reading and math scores of rural students in Arizona rose by a combined 21 points on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), while scores in rural schools nationwide decreased by two points. Even in a recent NAEP assessment post-pandemic, Arizona’s rural students demonstrated a combined nine-point increase, whereas rural students across the nation recorded a 17-point drop from 2007.
Finally, to the question of whether rural parents even want choice programs for their kids or in their communities: They do.
According to January 2024 national public opinion polling powered by Morning Consult and EdChoice, 14% of rural school parents are dissatisfied with their child’s education in their public district school, and 73% of rural school parents support the idea of education scholarship account programs.
It’s worth noting that a strong majority of those rural parents are satisfied and would continue to choose their local public school, assuaging concerns about how the local schools will fare with the addition of choice. If the purpose of our public education system is to ensure every child gets a quality education, we cannot ignore that 14%. All students deserve the chance to love their school and thrive.
School choice is not a zero-sum equation.
Enhancing success among students using choice programs to access private or customized schooling does not prevent the many millions of students in traditional schools from thriving and excelling. That’s true in rural, suburban and urban communities alike.
In states that have had school choice programs in place for decades, we can plainly see the sky didn’t fall. Critics’ opposition to school choice often feels based on hypothetical fearmongering instead of what students actually need—and how these programs actually improve student outcomes.
For many families in rural America, access to high-quality education can feel out of reach. Limited school options can restrict students’ potential, hindering their ability to achieve their academic goals and pursue their dreams.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Expanding choice opens doors so every student in every community has a chance to excel.
