Should Your Children Change Schools?

Families are stronger when parents participate in the education of their children, and strong families strengthen communities, states, and nations. Since a well-informed society is critical to the strength of America, it is critical for our schools to be the best at educating our students – and some schools are better than others at educating our students.

Jonathan Butcher wrote about education in his article titled “‘Micro’ K-12 Schools Offer Big Solutions for Students” published in The Daily Signal. Butcher reminded his readers that the COVID-19 pandemic and public Zoom school caused students to fall behind despite receiving lots of money from the federal government. He continued, “Public education’s slow-motion attempts at meaningful improvement whilst holding checks from taxpayers have parents looking for alternatives. Small ones.” 

According to Butcher, Kathryn Kelly is “one of the growing number of entrepreneurs behind microschools, small private schools that offer flexible schedules to students.” She is a parent who started her own school before the pandemic because her adopted sons were struggling in the public school. Now her school “is attracting families from all walks of life who have tired of the radical political orthodoxy inside many public-school districts along with teachers union campaigns for more taxpayer spending.”

[Kelly’s school is located] in a building built in 1879 that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

She explains that the building, like her school’s focus on classic books and a traditional, liberal arts education, is meant to “give kids some magic” as they are surrounded by “history and character.”

“The bar has been set so low. At assigned [public] schools, Kelly said in an interview. She explains that her teachers want to get students “engaged and curious and interactive instead of meekly accepting what is being handed to them.”

Kelly’s program also has an online option, and the combination of in-person and online teaching has reached a variety of students over the last 14 years. “We have full-time kids, have hybrid kids, we have kids that are part time in the public school, part-time home-schooled. We try to be the school that I wanted when I started out, and that is very flexible for parent needs,” Kelly says….

Parent interest in microschools surged during and after the pandemic. Families discovered that these schools were not only flexible but could allow parents to remain involved in their children’s education through part-time and other hybrid school schedules.

Nationwide, microschool enrollment growth has been steady, but the schools are designed to be small, which means these modest operations are one part of a growing catalog of K-12 opportunities outside of assigned public schools. Combining her online school and physical location and her new faith-based Hope Academy, Kelly has 40 students enrolled.

Some state lawmakers are making it possible for more families to take advantage of small learning settings like Kelly’s, along with classical private schools focused on STEM, and more. Policymakers in nine states have adopted the school choice options of either private school scholarships (i.e., private school vouchers) or education savings accounts for which all students in those states are eligible to apply….

Claims that $200 billion in COVID-19 funding was not enough for schools during the pandemic are hard to stomach while innovators such as Kelly can advertise education quality to families from inside a nearly 200-year-old building.

Students who are falling behind are not catching up because the assigned school system is not catching up. Struggling students – and all students – should not have to wait for public schools to decide what to do with new money before getting the chance at a great education.

I have several grandchildren who are struggling in their public schools since the COVID-19 pandemic. There seems to be another “pandemic” going on in our nation in the struggle for education. How are your children doing? It may be time for you to consider another type of schooling for them.

American success and freedom depend on the rising generation being well informed. Therefore, our children must receive the best education possible, and parents are the ones responsible for ensuring that their children are learning as they should. Strong parents will take charge of the education for their children, and well-educated children and youth will strengthen their communities, states, and nations.