(NAPSA)—TheU.S. Department of Education reports that nearly 57 million childrenwill go to shoolin America this year. Someof them live in whatare knownas “education deserts,” but fortunately,there are solutions. MappingSchool Deserts A newstudyused geospatial analysis software to mapfamilies’ drive times to schools, whether public, magnet, charter or voucher-accepting private schools. It discovered three kindsofdeserts: In A-rated school deserts, no A-rated schools of any kind are within a 30-minute drivefor families in a given area; + In choice deserts, no options such as charter, magnet or voucher-participating schools exist within a 30-minute drive for families, other than the zoned. traditional public school; In educational opportunity zone deserts, families’ only option within a 30-minutedriveradiusis a D- or F-rated. traditional public school. ‘The study also found that even in places considered to be choice-rich whenit comes to education, such as the state ofIndiana,access to quality schools is notuniversal. The report on Indiana's Schooling Deserts found that more than 100,000 families choose a schoolfor their children other than the one that wasresi- dentially assigned. Mapsproducedfor the report show where families do not have options whenit comesto highly rated or non- traditional schooling options and where policymakers and education entrepreneurs mightfind opportunity to support or grow more high-quality options. ‘The Good News Nineoutof 10 Hoosierfamilies are a 15-minute driveorless from an A-rated K-8schoolofanytype (public, private or charter) and a 21-minute drive from an A-rated high schoolof any type. All Indiana students are within 45 minutes ofan A-rated schoolofany type. The Bad News Nevertheless, there are 24,810 K-8 A new report used mapping software to generate drive-time distancesto differenttypes andquality ofschools. students wholive in a choice desert, meaning they are 30 minutes or more away from a K-8 other than the zoned public school. That numberjumpssignificantly for high schoolers—45,072 students live in a high school choice desert. Certain parts ofthe state are strug- gling to provide quality regardless of school type. About 7,000 K-8 students and about 400 high school students attend the D- or F-rated schools, accordingto the map. Who Can Help ‘The study was conducted on behalf of EdChoice, a nonprofit, nonparti- san organization dedicated to advancingfull and unencumbered educational choiceas the best pathway to successful lives and a strongersociety. It believes that families, not bureaucrats, are best equipped to make K-12 schooling deci- sions for their children and works to educate diverse audiences, train advo- cates and engagepolicymakers on the benefits of high-quality school choice programs. Learn More To view an interactive map and schoolchoice dashboard to see which programsareavailable for children you care about, go to www.edchoice.org.
