The new year of 2024 has begun, and the policy world is already in full swing.

With the historic passage in 2023 of a universal education choice scholarship, Utah built upon its growing and decades-long commitment to parent-driven education, which has included bolstering public charter school options, strengthening legal protections for home-school families, and boosting district public school funding to all-time levels. Parent-driven education is both a paradigm for approaching education and a practice where parents act as key decision-makers, teachers, administrators, funders or hosts for their child’s education.

Now in 2024 we have the opportunity to pair that commitment with efforts that tangibly and culturally support parent-driven education.

Below are some ways to do just that. Hopefully, these serve as reinforcement to parents who are stepping into the parent-driven education space for the first time or once again.

1. Boosting curriculum transparency for parents

Curriculum transparency is a way to equip parents with information about what their children are learning, especially when enrolled in public district or charter schools. Because most parents enroll their children in public schools, this is a broadly empowering public policy for most parents of school-age children, who have a right to know what their child will be taught and who deserve a say in their child’s education.

Curriculum transparency enables parents to engage in a more informed way with teachers, principals and local school board members. Should that engagement prove unfruitful, it further enables parents to recognize that the best academic path for their student may lie in another school or educational approach. It is an indirect and critically important aspect of parent-driven education.

Importantly, curriculum transparency benefits families of all ideologies and perspectives. It offers them awareness of and a seat at the table for public school curriculum discussions, while also encouraging through openness a positive working relationship between parents and teachers. When parents and educators have a positive working relationship, parents view teachers as trusted professionals and teachers view parents as helpful contributors.

Parent-driven education means parents have substantial and direct roles in education. And the principles of parent-driven education also apply to those who choose to enroll their children in schools outside of their home. Curriculum transparency contemplates and prepares space for these families to drive their child’s education in important ways.

2. Ensuring a successful launch of the Utah Fits All scholarship

Some families this year are seeking a new take on education. Based on student need, they are looking to offer instruction that takes place in new, different or multiple places, including the home.

Parents who want public resources to accomplish this and are interested in the Utah Fits All scholarship can apply starting Feb. 28 through April 15, 2024. The $8,000 scholarships will be available for the 2024-25 school year. Funds can be used for a wide variety of educational options, including curriculum for at-home school, tutoring, tuition, therapies and more. Such variety and flexibility let parents determine for themselves what parent-driven education looks like.

Though the number of scholarships to be awarded is limited due to funding levels, this scholarship program has the potential to grow. Any interested parents should apply and learn more about the options available with the funding.

3. Understanding the history of parent-driven education

For those interested in gaining insight on the historical roots of current debates over how we educate children in America, Sutherland Institute’s upcoming report on the history of parent-driven education in the U.S. may be helpful. Both parents and education policymakers may find the history informative as they consider the best way to approach their respective decision-making roles.

Some parents feel overwhelmed by the idea that they could drive their child’s education in any significant way – let alone be fully responsible for delivering it. Some policymakers feel pressure not to support policies that strengthen the parent’s role or increase options for fear of damaging the public education system. Both groups may be bolstered by the knowledge that the significant role of parents in education has been a fact since the founding of our nation.

For parents to claim their position of importance in their children’s education, and for policymakers to respect the family’s institutional role in education, understanding how history and the law support parental involvement can be foundational.

4. Learning from other parents’ success

Whether you are a parent who has long been persuaded of your vital role in education, a parent who is eager to try something new, or a parent who is planning to apply for scholarship funds, learning from the successes of others walking those paths is important.

Especially for parents who are new to taking on a more significant role in their child’s education, seeing how families make it work can bring encouragement and ideas for success. In that effort, Sutherland will continue our series of success stories from parents who have found a range of unique, accessible, and often inexpensive educational options that work for their students. We hope the stories offer hope and practical tips. Resource links found within each success story article can lead parents to more information as well.

Boosting parent-driven education requires not only legislative change, but cultural change too. Normalizing all types of educational choices through awareness can empower parents to make whatever education choices they think are best.

Conclusion

This year, Utahns can act on the successes of previous years in championing parents’ role in education. Utah’s policy environment has helped parent-driven education become established, grow and thrive as an essential element in all forms of schooling. As education leaders step forward, it will remain the paradigm through which we view education for the long haul.