Respondents reported a growing perception that private and microschool models now offer superior flexibility and autonomy.

by Ian Kingsbury, David T. Marshall

• The evidence offers a warning: Charter schools, long celebrated for innovation and choice, risk marginalization unless they undergo a fundamental shift away from a system-centric approach toward a parent-centric model.

For decades, charter schools served as the vanguard of conservative education reform. Authorized as public entities yet free from many district regulations, charters promised innovation and competition that would elevate all schools. Initially pioneered by Democrats in Minnesota in 1991 and scaled nationally under bipartisan support,¹ the sector now educates almost four million students.²Yet the landscape has shifted dramatically with the advent of universal education savings accounts (ESAs).

Arizona’s 2022 universal expansion of the Empowerment Scholarship Account program marked the first statewide parent-directed funding model open to nearly all families.³ Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship and related programs have achieved near-universal reach, serving over 286,000 students by 2025–26.⁴ The Utah Fits All Scholarship, though newer and with a capped budget, signals movement in the same direction.