The success of school choice doesn’t depend only on families having options. It depends on families understanding how those options can meet their children’s individual needs and using them to create better futures.
More than 54 million students will head back to school this fall, filling classrooms, buses, cafeterias, and playgrounds across the country. Among them are millions of students with disabilities. The latest federal data show that 7.5 million students receive special education and related services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), representing about 15% of public school students nationwide.
In Minnesota, families are preparing the way they always have, buying school supplies, meeting teachers, organizing schedules, and settling into new routines. But today’s back-to-school season is about more than preparing children for the first day. It’s also about helping parents navigate more education options than ever before.
From finding the right learning environment to figuring out transportation, academic support, and after-school activities, many of the decisions that shape a successful school year happen before the first day of class.
For parents of students with disabilities, decisions include evaluating specialized services, accommodations, accessibility, therapies, and whether a school can effectively support their child’s individual needs.
A recent National School Choice Awareness Foundation survey found that nearly six in ten parents say a child in their household will attend a new or different school for the first time this fall. Whether that’s a child’s first day of kindergarten, the move to middle or high school, or the beginning of a different learning environment, millions of families are facing an important transition.
Those transitions come with a long list of practical decisions. Parents are thinking about transportation, academic support, school safety, after-school activities, technology, and helping their children adjust to a new school year. For families of students with disabilities, those decisions can also include evaluating specialized services, accommodations, accessibility, therapies, and whether a school can effectively support their child’s individual needs.
Today’s parents are also choosing from an education landscape that offers more pathways than ever before. Across the country, 49 states have some form of public school open enrollment policies, while 30 states have expanded school choice programs during the past five years. Depending on where they live, families may have access to public schools beyond their district, public charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, online schools, microschools, homeschooling, and other learning opportunities.
In Minnesota, families can choose from traditional public, charter, magnet, private, online, homeschooling, and other flexible learning options. That flexibility can be particularly meaningful for families of students with disabilities, whose definition of the “right fit” may include not only academics and school culture, but also specialized services, accessibility, therapies, or individualized support. More options can open doors for families, but only when parents have the information they need to understand what each option can offer their child.
For today’s parents, preparing for the school year isn’t just about checking items off a supply list. It’s about making informed decisions before classes begin, and continuing to make them as their child’s needs evolve throughout the year. That’s why having access to clear, trustworthy information matters just as much as having access to educational opportunities.
Parents are approaching those decisions with both optimism and worries. The same survey found that 88% of parents are excited about the upcoming school year, even as about two-thirds also say they’re feeling stressed.
Families don’t need someone else making these decisions for them. They need reliable information that helps them make those decisions with confidence, from transportation and academic progress to tutoring, last-minute changes, and parent-teacher conferences. For families of students with disabilities, that also means understanding their child’s rights, the services and supports available across different learning environments, and what questions to ask when considering a school change.
Also, parents can find free back-to-school guides, practical advice, and year-round resources at myschoolchoice.com/back-to-school. Getting students ready for a successful school year has always been the goal of the back-to-school season. Today, getting parents ready matters just as much. Expanding educational opportunities is only half the job. Helping families navigate those opportunities is the other half. Because opportunities only matter when families understand how to use them.
Shelby Doyle is the senior vice president of policy and national partnerships at the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that maintains the nation’s largest online portfolio of English- and Spanish-language school navigation resources, available through Navigate School Choice and Conoce tus Opciones Escolares.
