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Short of a formal poll, it’s impossible to say definitively why so many parents in Hawaii choose to shell out an additional $3,000 to $18,000 annually to send their children to private schools.

But part of the reason may come down to their valuing the ability to choose what they think is best for their children.

Joann Marshall, the wife of a Navy officer and mother of three children, said when she and her husband arrived on Oahu, they were made to feel as if they had only one choice: either you care about your children and send them to private school, or you settle for public school.

But all parents have the right to choose their children’s schools, said Lois Yamauchi, an educational pscyhology professor at the University of Hawaii College of Education

“Many people choose private schools, and when they do, they visit many,” she said. “But when they think of public schools, they don’t shop around. They’re not used to having that choice in public education.”

Especially with proliferation of charter schools, the advent of home schooling and the federal program for that grants students the opportunity to transfer out of low-performing schools, opportunities for choice in the public system have never been greater.

Although Hawaii law requires students to attend regular public school , parents can obtain what is called a to send their students elsewhere — subject to space availability. Geographic exceptions can be granted for a number of reasons:

• It is in the child’s best interests (e.g. living with a relative in a different district than where his or her parents reside).
• To give a student access to special programs not available at his or her school.
• The school for which the child is zoned is not meeting No Child Left Behind annual benchmarks.

Schools that have entered School Improvement Year 1, School Improvement Year 2, Corrective Action, Planning for Restructuring or Restructuring statuses are required to offer parents the choice of transferring their child to another school on their island that is in Good Standing. Only 124 of Hawaii’s 286 public and public charter schools were in Good Standing after Hawaii State Assessment scores were released in July.

In some geographic exception cases, parents can even receive mileage reimbursement for transporting their children to and from school. Exceptions must be applied for by March 1 of the school year preceding the one for which it is sought. Once granted, a geographic exception applies until the student graduates or chooses to transfer elsewhere.

Public charter schools have no geographic requirements, although many have an application process.

Parents who wish to their children may submit .

Military families seem especially inclined to choose schools based on what other people tell them, Marshall said, instead of actively checking into the options. Although she and her husband experienced pressure to place their children in private schools before they even arrived in Hawaii, they knew from experience that there are good and bad schools everywhere. Not all private schools are as good as the good public schools, even in Hawaii, she said. Ultimately, Marshall believes she and her husband know best what schools best fit their children’s needs. Her 8-year-old and 11-year-old attend public schools in Honolulu.

“I definitely would say to consider all the options and talk to principals, teachers, families who attend the schools you’re considering,” Yamauchi said. “Really do the research on what’s available and what kind of advantages and disadvantages there are.”

Public schools have some excellent teachers and programs, said Yamauchi, but her loyalty to public schools goes beyond simple academics to exposure to a diversity of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

“For our family, public education is the basis of a democracy,” she said. “It provides you with opportunities to learn about different people and to interact with people you often won’t find in a private school. Looking back on my own education, I think that I was very well prepared for life and for higher education by going through the public school system. And I feel that my children, by attending public schools, will learn things they wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn in private schools.”