Recent surveys have confirmed what many families probably already know: most who switch schools stay within public education. But knowing where families go doesn’t explain why they move…or why so many don’t, despite wanting to.
A nationally representative survey of 2,110 parents offers the first rigorous look beneath the surface.
Morning Consult for EdChoice ┃ n = 2,110 US parents ┃ Weighted national data ┃October 2025Why this survey matters now
The dominant narrative in school choice policy often assumes that, given the option, families will exit district schools. With 18 states now offering near-universal private school choice programs, the question is no longer hypothetical.
But the data tells a more complicated story: most parents who change schools stay within their local district. But knowing where families go doesn’t explain why they move—or why so many don’t, despite wanting to.
This survey was designed to begin answering those questions. The findings reveal a more complex picture than either side of the school choice debate tends to acknowledge.
Finding 1 · What the motivation data revealsThe data keeps pointing in the same direction. This is the first study to explain the mechanics underneath it.
Parents are stuck wanting more, and not switching is not the same as satisfaction.
The “considerer” population has gone largely unexamined. It shouldn’t be.
Prior surveys have noted that many parents consider switching but don’t follow through, typically citing logistical barriers such as transportation or waitlists.
But noting the pattern is not the same as understanding it.
This survey goes further by asking what distinguishes the parents who end up in the considerer group, and why aspiration doesn’t always become action.
The answer lies in motivation. Among parents who did switch, the driving forces were split: roughly a quarter were motivated by whole-child development aspirations, and a quarter were pushed by crisis—a child being bullied, dreading school, or falling behind. But among considerers, the picture looks strikingly different.
Primary motivation: whole-child development
Primary motivation: Crisis Relief
The pattern has a clear interpretation: what moves families to act isn’t aspiration, it’s acuity. When a problem becomes acute enough—a child is unsafe, or visibly suffering—families overcome the social disruption, logistical friction, and uncertainty of switching even when it’s hard. Aspirational parents feel those barriers more keenly, and without the urgency of crisis, most don’t cross the threshold.
The large considerer population doesn’t represent satisfied parents. It represents parents with unmet aspirations whose situation hasn’t yet become acute enough—or whose barriers are too high—to cross the action threshold.
Why this matters for policy:
School choice policy has largely been designed around logistical and financial barriers—making programs available, removing red tape, and funding tuition. What this finding reveals is a deeper layer: the psychological and motivational architecture underneath inaction. For the largest share of considerers, the barrier isn’t access or affordability; it’s risk-taking on whole-child development. Policy that ignores this dimension is solving for the wrong obstacle.
Low-income and high-income families face entirely different barriers to switching.
The obstacle isn’t the same for everyone. Income levels define specific challenges.
Under $50k household income
financial cost
Over $100k household income
social embeddedness
The income finding is expected, if stark: tuition costs remain prohibitive for lower-income families even as ESA and voucher programs expand. But the social embeddedness finding runs in the opposite direction and is equally revealing.
High-income families are more socially anchored in their current schools. Their children have built deeper networks there. Their social circles actively discourage disruption. For these families, the obstacle to switching is not financial—it’s the perceived cost of leaving something their community values.
Two very different challenges hinder school switching. For low-income families, it’s the financial cost. For high-income families, it’s the social cost of leaving.
Why this matters for Schools:
Both findings point to the same underlying reality that switching schools carries real costs beyond the logistical. For lower-income families, the dominant cost is financial. For higher-income families, it’s social. But it would be a mistake to read the lower rate of social barrier-reporting among lower-income families as evidence that belonging and community don’t matter to them—the survey measures what families identify as barriers, not what they value. For all families, schools that invest in culture, community, and a genuine sense of belonging are building something that matters. The difference is that for lower-income families, those qualities are often the last thing addressed…and sometimes the first thing sacrificed when financial necessity forces a switch.
District schools are both the most left and the most returned to, and the reasons are not the same.
The school choice narrative imagines a one-way exit. The actual flow is circular.
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The largest single flow in the data isn’t district-to-private or district-to-homeschool. It’s families moving between schools in their district. And among families who started in a non-district setting (private, charter, or homeschool), nearly 61% later attended a district school.
This raises a critical question: Why do families return to district schools after leaving? And how does that compare to why they left? That asymmetry is striking. (All of the data here reflects parent-reported experience: what families say drove them out, and what drew them back.)
What parents say drove them out
- Seeking a safe learning environment
- Child feeling unsafe/uncomfortable at current school
- Helping a child focus and excel
- School not listening
- A child being bullied
- Child dreading school
- Catering to unique needs
What parents say drew them back
- Opportunities for social/emotional growth
- Better college preparation
- Giving their child the best opportunities
- Challenging their child academically
- Feeling that their child had been living in a bubble
In parents’ telling, district schools lose them when they fail at the basics: safety, transparency, and parent voice. They win families back when parents believe they offer something broader: whole-child development, social integration, and a richer set of life opportunities.
Why this matters for School leaders:
These findings point in two directions. Non-district schools seeking broader appeal will need to build the whole-child depth and social breadth that families clearly value. District schools, meanwhile, aren’t simply losing a slow war of attrition. Their opportunity is to recognize what they already do well and deliberately invest in it.
What comes next
This survey establishes a new layer of understanding beneath the topline switching data—one that distinguishes aspiration from action, reveals the structural difference between income-based and social barriers, and reframes the district school’s role in the choice ecosystem.
The findings raise questions that demand further investigation: What would it take to close the aspiration-action gap for considerers? Are ESA programs reaching the families who face financial barriers, or primarily those who were already financially mobile? And what would it take for non-district schools to develop the breadth and social infrastructure that families value—and for district schools to recognize and lead with those same strengths?
Survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of EdChoice, October 2025. n = 2,110 US parents with school-age children. All figures use Morning Consult’s US Custom 2025 survey weights. Co-published by the Christensen Institute and EdChoice.
For the full data and methodology, download the PDF here.
