COLORADO SPRINGS — School choice is inadvertently impacting the influx of military families in southern Colorado each year.
The idea behind school choice, advocates say, is to give all parents the ability to choose whichever school or learning environment best meets their child's needs, regardless of whether it's public or private. It is, however, creating a pickle for a lot of families in certain neighborhoods where schools are filling up quickly.
Sarah Chen is a mom of three and an Air Force wife who recently moved to Colorado Springs. It is her and her husband's 11th Permanent Change of Station (PCS).
Sarah is no stranger to moving, so when they got the call, she immediately prepared her family: packing, coordinating movers, and even purchasing a home.
She tells me, "The day that we went under contract I called the school so we could start registering children."
The family spent their nest egg to live in a community they hope to settle, and one well known for their schools, but finding a spot in those schools, blocks away from their home, proved harder than one would think.
"It was full and now we have three kids, in three schools, and no bus. We actually take a bigger hit to our bottom line having kids in public schools living in D20 than we have in the past living on base, having the kids in private school," said Sarah.
Due to the waitlist, living on base was not an option this time around.
As the Chens navigate a new city and how to get all their kids to their schools.
"With no bus, by the time, I get everywhere where they need to go. It's about 90 minutes for me," said Sarah.
The Chens are one of many military families dealing with this.
More than 400 thousand service members and their families move to a new post each year. That is approximately 1.2 million school-age kids that will move 6 to nine times during their parents' military careers. 30% go to public schools.
I took the question to District 20 and asked if anything could be done to help.
"We often max out on seats and it's so hard with the influx of military families each year because it's true, we have people move into their neighborhood and they can't go to their neighborhood school. We hold seats and it's just not enough," said Allison Cortez, a chief communications officer.
About a quarter of District 20's students choice in to the schools from outside of the district.
"We hold seats throughout the summer but still we are in a predicament this year. We were full in some grades in April and May of the year before," said Cortez.
The national bus driver shortage is another issue.
"It's hitting us hard. We started the year out ten drivers short. We need 13 bus drivers right now," said Cortez.
The Military Family Open Enrollment in Public Schools became law in 2021. The act requires a school district, district charter school, and institute charter school (public school) to accept the school liaison address for the military installation for purposes of demonstrating residency for inbound active duty military members (inbound military members) participating in open enrollment.
The act also requires a public school that enrolls the child of an inbound military member through open enrollment to grant guaranteed automatic matriculation, as specified in the act, in the same manner, guaranteed automatic matriculation is provided to resident students, and shall grant priority preference for younger siblings of the child for enrolling in subsequent school years.
The act defines an "inbound active duty military member" as an active duty military member who receives new orders, or a command letter issued in lieu of orders, for a permanent change of station to a Department of Defense military installation in Colorado.
The act requires a public school to allow an inbound military member to submit applications for enrollment or open enrollment by electronic means and to register a child remotely, without requiring the child, parent, legal guardian, or another person to appear physically within the state for registration.
If required, the inbound military member must also be allowed to provide proof of residency and other records within 10 days after the child's attendance in public school.
Further, a public school shall allow the child of an inbound military member the same opportunity to request school assignments, register for courses, or apply for the same courses offered to students who are already present in the state..
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