Dahlia: Homeschooling as a Last Resort

This chapter documents the school choice decision-making of Dahlia on behalf of her son, Jason. Dahlia is a 42-year-old divorced mother of one. Her neighborhood school was a resegregated, predominantly Black, under-resourced school. Dahlia discovered a program that allowed her son to attend the better-resourced schools in the district. However, a new charter school opening close to her home gives Dahlia great hope of having a school of excellence within her community so she enrolled her son. When that school fails four months later, the district blocks her access to the school she left. The chapter details Dahlia’s selection of two additional elementary schools, before ultimately deciding to homeschool. Her account demonstrates the complexity and inequity of school choice.