Table 206.40.

Percentage of students enrolled in grades 1 through 12 whose parents reported having public school choice, considered other schools, reported current school was their first choice, or moved to their current neighborhood for the public school, by school type and selected child and household characteristics: 2019

[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
School type and selected child or household characteristic	Public choice available1			Considered other schools			School was parent's first choice			Moved to neighborhood for public school2
1	2			3			4			5
Total	42.3		(0.56)	35.5		(0.64)	81.1		(0.42)	19.1		(0.44)
School type
Public, assigned3	31.2		(0.71)	28.8		(0.75)	80.2		(0.59)	21.6		(0.51)
Public, chosen3	100.0		(0.00)	53.8		(1.42)	81.5		(1.00)	8.8		(0.86)
Private, religious	23.2		(2.00)	49.1		(2.20)	89.5		(1.43)	†		(†)
Private, nonsectarian	23.3		(3.04)	71.2		(3.22)	85.6		(2.09)	†		(†)
Sex of child
Male	41.8		(0.83)	34.8		(0.80)	81.1		(0.65)	19.7		(0.61)
Female	42.9		(0.85)	36.3		(0.85)	81.2		(0.59)	18.5		(0.69)
Race/ethnicity of child
White	38.3		(0.73)	33.2		(0.77)	84.4		(0.62)	20.7		(0.71)
Black	46.2		(1.74)	41.5		(1.79)	73.6		(1.72)	16.4		(1.66)
Hispanic	49.0		(1.29)	36.7		(1.33)	79.7		(1.02)	15.8		(0.92)
Asian/Pacific Islander	37.8		(2.45)	35.2		(2.41)	79.3		(2.48)	29.0		(2.20)
Asian	38.7		(2.47)	35.4		(2.57)	80.4		(2.55)	29.4		(2.29)
Pacific Islander	20.8	!	(8.38)	31.0	!	(10.61)	59.5		(15.78)	19.9	!	(9.90)
American Indian/Alaska Native	40.8		(9.49)	40.9		(7.38)	82.4		(6.16)	13.9	!	(5.70)
Two or more races	41.3		(2.43)	35.6		(2.50)	79.8		(1.88)	18.2		(1.87)
Disability status of child as reported by parent
Has a disability	43.1		(1.21)	40.2		(1.04)	77.3		(1.13)	20.2		(1.03)
Does not have a disability	42.0		(0.63)	34.1		(0.76)	82.3		(0.50)	18.8		(0.52)
Grade level
Grades 1 through 5	39.8		(1.10)	36.1		(0.98)	79.9		(0.95)	19.2		(0.78)
Grades 6 through 8	43.2		(1.11)	35.7		(1.17)	81.6		(0.93)	19.5		(0.99)
Grades 9 through 12	44.9		(0.97)	34.6		(0.93)	82.4		(0.62)	18.7		(0.70)
Number of parents in the household
Two parents	42.4		(0.73)	36.3		(0.80)	82.4		(0.50)	20.5		(0.57)
One parent	42.5		(1.02)	35.2		(1.10)	77.8		(0.93)	16.8		(0.92)
Nonparental guardians	38.8		(2.56)	23.1		(2.12)	80.6		(2.70)	11.3		(2.02)
Highest education level of parents/guardians
Less than a high school diploma	45.8		(2.85)	25.4		(2.39)	80.9		(2.13)	12.1		(1.61)
High school/GED	38.4		(1.64)	28.4		(1.43)	80.0		(1.21)	13.2		(1.22)
Vocational/technical or some college	42.0		(1.20)	36.6		(1.41)	76.2		(1.37)	16.4		(1.14)
Associate's degree	43.2		(1.74)	35.0		(1.70)	80.3		(1.27)	18.7		(1.62)
Bachelor's degree/some graduate school	43.0		(0.93)	38.2		(1.12)	82.6		(0.72)	22.5		(0.94)
Graduate/professional degree	43.0		(1.07)	44.0		(1.10)	85.1		(0.85)	28.3		(0.99)
Poverty status of household4
Poor	40.3		(1.62)	32.5		(1.86)	75.4		(1.72)	16.1		(1.23)
Near-poor	42.3		(1.39)	31.1		(1.63)	79.7		(1.35)	13.0		(0.90)
Nonpoor	42.8		(0.68)	37.6		(0.77)	83.1		(0.45)	21.9		(0.59)
Locale5
City	54.3		(1.08)	43.4		(1.20)	79.7		(0.88)	16.3		(0.72)
Suburban	37.4		(0.86)	34.6		(0.95)	81.1		(0.65)	23.9		(0.77)
Town	32.6		(1.79)	26.6		(1.55)	83.0		(1.58)	11.6		(1.33)
Rural	37.9		(1.28)	28.3		(1.11)	83.0		(1.17)	16.2		(1.09)
Region
Northeast	28.3		(1.31)	31.8		(1.48)	81.0		(1.27)	21.9		(1.15)
South	39.5		(0.89)	36.8		(0.95)	78.2		(0.81)	19.9		(0.76)
Midwest	43.1		(1.15)	30.6		(1.13)	85.2		(0.87)	21.0		(1.11)
West	55.4		(1.31)	40.8		(1.25)	81.9		(0.95)	14.6		(0.94)

†Not applicable.

!Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.

1 Students who attended chosen public schools were automatically coded as "yes" for whether or not their district allowed public school choice.

2 This column shows percentages of public school students only. Private school students are excluded from the analysis.

3 Students with missing data on school type are excluded from this analysis.

4 Poor children are those whose family incomes were below the Census Bureau's poverty threshold in the year prior to data collection; near-poor children are those whose family incomes ranged from the poverty threshold to 199 percent of the poverty threshold; and nonpoor children are those whose family incomes were at or above 200 percent of the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold is a dollar amount that varies depending on a family's size and composition and is updated annually to account for inflation. In 2019, for example, the poverty threshold for a family of four with two children was $25,926. Survey respondents are asked to select the range within which their income falls, rather than giving the exact amount of their income; therefore, the measure of poverty status is an approximation.

5 Based on zip code of the household.

NOTE: For the 2019 administration of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), the majority of data were collected using a web-based survey instrument that respondents accessed with credentials they received in a mailed invitation. Paper surveys were used for nonresponse follow-up and for a small experiment. Excludes students with any homeschooling and 24 or fewer hours spent in a physical school building. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding and suppression of estimates that did not meet reporting standards.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (PFI-NHES:2019). (This table was prepared March 2021.)