(The Lion) — School choice continues to sprout like spring flowers across the country.

The National School Choice Awareness Foundation (NSCAF) surveyed 2,873 parents around the country from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2, concluding school choice is “here to stay.”

The survey found 60% of parents considered new schools for their children in 2024, which is less than last year’s 72% due to the “leveling-off” of school searching after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite that leveling off, the percentage of parents who searched for schools last year is higher than in the January 2023 survey, 54%, and January 2022 survey, 52%.

Of those surveyed, 71% of parents aged 18-29 and 68% of black parents considered new schools.

Between 2022-24, data show there was a 22% decrease in parents who considered sending their children to a traditional public school in their neighborhood, as well as a 12% decrease in them considering sending their children to a traditional public school outside their neighborhood.

“With more parents searching for new schools each year,” says Andrew Campanella, the CEO of NSCAF, “and with parents gaining an awareness of how school choice really works, families are running up against an unfortunate reality: Too many states make it too complicated to choose public schools outside of zones or districts. Bureaucracy itself is a barrier – not just to choice, but to demand.”

Concurrent with decreased interest in traditional public schools, there was heightened enthusiasm for other school options, including public charter schools, private and faith-based schools, homeschooling, microschooling and hybrid learning.

Between 2022 and 2024, there was a 220% increase in microschooling and hybrid learning models.

After searching, about 28% of parents eventually chose to enroll their children in these alternative schools.

The survey results were released just before the 15th anniversary of National School Choice Week beginning Jan. 27.