“School choice” started in the 1990s. That’s the first myth.
In reality, school choice has existed for as long as public schools have existed. Families who could afford private school or buy a home near a school they preferred have always had school choice. The introduction of tuition-free public charter schools and open enrollment policies for traditional public schools in Colorado in the 1990s simply expanded that choice to more families.
I experienced this firsthand. I was a kindergartener during the very first year charter schools were an option in Colorado Springs, making me part of the first small cohort of K-8 charter school students in our city. For my family, charter schools opened the door to educational opportunities that otherwise would not have been available to us. Hundreds of families in Colorado Springs took advantage of that opportunity that first year, and today, more than thirty years later, over 135,000 students attend tuition-free public charter schools across Colorado. Charter schools are only one form of school choice; countless families also exercise school choice by attending a traditional public school outside the attendance boundaries to which they are assigned.
One might think that the introduction of tuition-free public charter schools and open enrollment for traditional public schools solved the problem of school choice and made it accessible to all families, but it didn’t. That’s the second myth. Those reforms moved us in the right direction, but there is still work to be done.
Over the last three decades, millions of families across the country have been able to access school choice; however, many families still face barriers. Working parents, single parents, and families with young children already juggle countless responsibilities. Many cannot spend an hour or more each day driving their child to and from school. Even if they could, many still struggle to accommodate weekly early-release days, late starts, and the random half and full days off scattered throughout the year. East Hills Academy was designed with those families in mind.
We reduce barriers to school choice by providing free bus transportation and a family-friendly schedule and calendar. There are no regular early-release days, half-days, late starts (other than weather delays), or random days off throughout the school year beyond two teacher workdays. Families can count on a consistent schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., from August through May.
East Hills also makes school choice more accessible by offering on-site preschool for three- and four-year-olds, with both half-day and full-day options. In addition, we provide before- and after-school care, including care on many days when school is not in session. Both are offered at affordable rates with a sliding scale and, in some cases, at no cost to qualifying families.
To our knowledge, East Hills Academy is the only charter school in Colorado Springs that combines free bus transportation, a family-friendly schedule and calendar, on-site preschool, and before- and after-school care. This winning combination makes East Hills Academy a school that truly works for working families. It also represents another step forward in the decades-long effort to expand access to high-quality school choice and ensure that school choice is accessible not just in theory, but in practice.