Voting With Their Feet: Responding to Increased Demand for Innovative Schools

Many parents expressed dissatisfaction with traditional public schools during the first year of the pandemic. Studies show that thousands of them expressed that dissatisfaction by disenrolling their children, or, “voting with their feet.” At the same time, public charter schools, known for adopting innovative approaches to educating students, dramatically increased enrollment from the end of the 2020 school year to the end of the 2021 school year. So now what? How can parents and policymakers keep the momentum going to increase options for parents who want them?