Despite the fast-spreading nature of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) in states across the nation, many individuals are still unfamiliar with this innovative education choice trend.
That really should come as no surprise. After all, ESAs have only been around since 2011, and most of the growth in ESAs has only exploded in the last few years.
That last fact is seen in the chart below from a recent report by Tyton Partners. Amazingly, ESAs have tripled in only the last couple of years!
The reason ESAs are seeing such massive growth is simple: parents want the best for their children.
“Parents make decisions about education driven by what they believe best serves their child’s interests,” the Tyton report explains. Yet many parents are seeing that the status quo system of public education is serving anything but their children’s interests. Because of this, parents want to see education dollars follow their children, giving them the freedom to choose the type of school or tutoring that best fits their children’s needs.
So what are the most important criteria parents are looking for when they choose a school for their children? According to Tyton Partners, quality education and safety are by far the top two factors parents consider.
Those factors are particularly interesting when viewed in light of our own state.
Consider safety, the category which 52% of parents list as important when choosing a school. Sadly, news headlines in the last several months are showing that are schools are anything but safe.
Exhibit A comes from Armstrong High School in the Robbinsdale District. In May, the school had a massive fight two weeks in a row. The first brawl, shown in the video below, required two School Resource Officers, eight police, and numbers of teachers to quell.
In March, Hopkins High School played host to a school fight, which caused a “large school disruption.”
February’s fight of the month took place in Lakeville North High School. Instagram video of the incident features a number of girls going at each other interspersed with a fair amount of profanity.
January featured “2 fights involving hundreds,” according to a KSTP headline, both at Minneapolis public schools. Not to be outdone, St. Louis Park High School also hosted two fights the same month.
Lest you think that Twin Cities school districts are the only ones where fights occur, consider that schools in Rochester and Mankato also hosted fights this last school year.
Given these incidents, it’s no wonder that safety is one of the top criteria parents consider when choosing schools for their children. But let’s not forget the most important factor parents consider, namely, quality of education, which 69% of parents list as the most important factor in choosing a school.
Let’s look solely at the schools mentioned above where the fights took place. Do these districts do better in education than they do in the safety category? The chart below tells the tale:
In essence, these schools are not only failing students and parents in the safety realm, they’re also failing them in the academic quality realm. With facts like these, is it any wonder that 75% of Minnesota school parents support ESAs?
Let’s not force parents to keep their children in unsafe schools that are failing academically. Let’s give them the opportunity to let education funds follow their children into schools that offer a hope and a future.
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Image Credit: WCCO-YouTube
