I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is the Sunday story from Up First.

This week, school choice.

Those two words cover all kinds of programs that are meant to let parents choose to send their child to a school other than their neighborhood public school.

Maybe it's to another public school or a public charter school or even a private school.

In the U.S., school choice is often politically charged and even emotional.

I hate to even say that I would consider it, but I think I represent a lot of families that if we're not looking at the best situation for our kids, we're going to move

our kid to a private school.

I don't want to do that.

Today on the Sunday story, NPR education correspondent Corey Turner takes us to Cedar Rapids, Iowa,

a city swimming in choice to understand what increased school choice really

looks like for parents who want the best for their kids.

Corey joins us now.

Welcome.

Thanks for having me, Aisha.

So, Corey, school choice is this idea that covers such a wide range of programs and policies.

Can you walk us through the basics?

Yeah, you bet.

So think of school choice as a spectrum, right?

So on one end, you've got public school choice, things like magnet programs and open enrollment policies that allow kids to apply to other public schools,

either in their home districts or maybe in a neighboring district. Then you move over a little bit,

and somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, you've got charter schools, which are technically

public schools, but they're managed independently, and they're often exempted from oversight.

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