Parents for School Options

09/18/2026

Listen up, Texas Parents.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) wants to rewrite the rules for virtual school eligibility.

The law is clear: if a child attends a Texas public school for six weeks, they qualify for full-time virtual school. Full stop.

TEA's proposed rule adds two conditions the Legislature never wrote. Those six weeks would only count if they generated funding for the district, and summer school wouldn't count at all.

Read that again. A kid could attend a Texas public school for six weeks and still lose eligibility over a funding technicality that has nothing to do with whether they actually showed up.

We're asking TEA to follow the law the Legislature passed: count six weeks of documented attendance, no funding requirement attached, and count summer school the way it always has.

Texas parents, we need your voice on this one. It takes two minutes to add your name to our coalition letter to TEA.

09/16/2026

📢 New op-ed alert!

Nearly 1 million students attend full-time virtual public schools nationwide — and at least 500,000 of them qualify for free or reduced-price meals but are denied access simply because their school doesn't have a cafeteria.

That's the outdated policy our Executive Director, Chase Eskelsen, is tackling in a new op-ed for the Washington Examiner, co-authored with John Watson of DLAC.

Read why this decades-old rule needs to catch up to how families are actually choosing to educate their kids today.

👉 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/4727001/free-lunch-virtual-school-students/

Parents for School Options (PSO) is a national alliance of parents that supports and defends parents’ rights to access the best public school options for their children.

09/16/2026

Arkansas' Education Freedom Account program grew rapidly, serving tens of thousands of students. When the state auditor reviewed the program, they found that 99.94% of spending was clean.

The .06% of errors were paperwork mishaps. Not fraud or waste.

This is what happens when programs are run with integrity and oversight.

Families get .
Taxpayers get transparency.
Students get opportunity.

Read More: https://informedchoice1996.substack.com/p/state-audit-finds-incredibly-few

09/11/2026

Never forget.

09/09/2026

PSO Vice President Wei Barr used to live in Alabama.

It was there that she educated her children online at a virtual academy.

Recently, the Alabama Board of Educatjon has put virtual education under a microscope, and this very vital education opportunity is at threat.

In her authored letter - Wei urges lawmakers to consider parents and family perspective. “Our stories deserve to be a part of the conversation.”

09/08/2026

Shereese is a mother in Ohio.

She has a son and a nephew, both enrolled in virtual school. Both boys struggled in traditional classrooms: one with social anxiety, the other in large crowds that made learning impossible.

Shereese, like many parents, struggled until she found a solution that worked. Virtual school gave them space to breathe, to learn, and to lean into their passions.

Now, she's writing to her state legislators with one message: please do not shape education policy without speaking to parents and understanding who is implicated by your choices.

Her letter is a reminder that school choice isn't theoretical. It's not about politics or policy debates. It's about real kids who need something different than what a traditional building can offer.

Shereese's story is playing out in living rooms across the country. Families are finding what works. They're choosing environments where their kids can actually thrive.

That choice matters. And it's worth protecting.

09/01/2026

On August 23, the White House Rose Garden hosted a back-to-school celebration and a progress report on school choice. Three things came out of it that matter for families in virtual public schools, charters, and other nontraditional options.

A federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for scholarship contributions. New waivers and ed-flex authority giving states more room to design programs around their families. And continued investment in charter growth and career-connected learning.

Here's the part worth remembering: federal headlines set the stage, but the details get written in your state capitol.

Swipe to learn more about these announcements and what they mean for your family.

What questions do you have about what this means where you live? 👇

08/14/2026

Spotted: Kyle from Team PSO on the ground today in Little Rock, Arkansas.

PSO is joining a back to school event with one of our partner schools, meeting parents and teaching them about the advocacy work we do in Arkansas and across the nation.

No visit to Little Rock is complete without a stop for the world's best cinnamon roll. Yum!

08/07/2026

Graduation is more than a ceremony. It's the culmination of years of hard work, perseverance, and determination. At Texas Online Preparatory School (TOPS), students from across Texas came together to celebrate this milestone, proving that there are many paths to achieving academic success. TOPS is a full-time online public school, offering the flexibility and support many families need while maintaining high academic expectations.

This year's graduation was a celebration not only of diplomas earned, but of the unique journeys that brought each graduate to the stage. Whether balancing work, family responsibilities, athletics, health challenges, or simply learning best in a flexible environment, these students demonstrated that virtual education can open doors and empower learners to thrive.

Watch the Class of 2026 graduation highlights and join us in celebrating the achievements of these remarkable graduates as they take the next step.

Congratulations, Class of 2026! 🎓

07/29/2026

Dean was six years old when someone called the sheriff on him at school.

Not because he was dangerous. Because he was drowning, and no one knew how to help him.

His aunt Jennifer saw a kid in pain that everyone else had labeled a problem. She saw a bright child who had never been taught how to learn, only how to sit still. And she knew those weren't the same thing.

When traditional schools gave up on Dean, Jennifer didn't. She took custody, enrolled him in virtual school, and gave him something he'd never had before: control over his own environment.

Earlier this month, Dean graduated with honors distinction.

This is what happens when a family gets to choose the learning environment that actually works. When a kid who was written off gets a real shot.

School choice exists for kids like Dean. And families like Jennifer's deserve every option available to help their children thrive.

Jennifer B. has been raising her nephew Dean for ten years now. Not because she had to, but because she recognized that no one else was going to give him the support he needed. This is her story, in her own words, about bullying, a system that gave up, and how school choice in Ohio and virtual schoo...