A Guide to Selecting a San Antonio-Area School for Your Child

San Antonio has a LOT to offer in terms of education, and I think every mother would agree that their child’s education is one of their top priorities. One of the most common requests I get from parents is to help them find the right school for their child. This is an extremely loaded question, and not typically something I can answer without having some background information about the child and their educational history. I have actually found that it is easier to teach parents how to research schools and make an informed decision rather than suggesting options.

So, that is the goal I would like to accomplish with this post—to arm parents with the tools to research schools and make a confident and informed decision about where their child will experience the most academic and social success.

The first step in the research process is to understand the different types of schools in which you can enroll your child: public, public charter, and private.

Public Schools: publicly funded schools that are open to any student living in the state-defined zoned area (Some districts offer School Choice, which allows students to attend a different campus within the same district, but we will get into that more later.)

Public Charter Schools: publicly funded schools that typically have a specialized curriculum; These schools must be tuition-free and open to all students, but some might have waiting lists. They are not part of state-zoned school districts.

Private Schools: tuition-based schools that have a specific mission and vision unique to their campus goals

How to Research Public Schools

Public schools are part of state-defined school districts that divide the city into specific zones which feed into the various elementary, middle, and high schools in San Antonio. You can see which schools you are zoned for with a quick Google search—or even using Zillow.  San Antonio is divided into 18 school districts. The school your child will attend is based on your address. Many of the public districts in San Antonio are large, so they have numerous elementary and middle schools that feed into larger high schools.

It may seem like you do not get much of a say if you choose to attend school in your local public district, but that is not exactly true! Most public districts in San Antonio offer School Choice options, which allow you to request the ability to attend a different campus in the district as long as you can provide transportation for your student. As long as the enrollment is not at capacity for that specific school and grade, your request will very likely be approved.

So how do you decide if your local public school is right for your child? There are a few things you can do to gain some insights to inform your educational decisions:

1. Follow the social media accounts for your local campuses.
2. Talk to your neighbors about their experiences with the school.
3. Attend a fundraiser or community event for the school—bring the whole family!
4. Contact the campus and ask for a tour or a time to meet with the school leadership to give you more information about what makes their campus a good choice.
5. Join the PTA and volunteer. You do not have to be a parent to join—PTA is open to anyone in the community. (Seriously, though, this is a definite way to learn all the things!)
6. Use sites like Niche.com, GreatSchools.org, and public state records to review school ratings and academic achievement levels.
7. If your student has diagnosed learning differences and will likely be on a 504 or IEP plan, contact the campus to discuss the services provided for students with specialized needs. Be sure to ask what intervention programs they use, and you can look up those too!

In general, local public schools are going to be a great fit for the vast majority of families and students. San Antonio is lucky to have so many great public schools.

How to Research Charter Schools

If you feel that your child would benefit from a school program that has a more specific targeted population or mission but is still free and publicly funded, then you should look into charter schools.

By law, charter schools must have open enrollment for all students, but this does not mean that they are not allowed to market to or tailor their education to a specific population. San Antonio has a plethora of public charter schools that focus on a specific value or population such as classical liberal arts education, Hebrew language and Israeli culture, social-emotional and project-based learning, Spanish language, science and technology, high academic achievement and test scores, advanced curriculums and instructional levels, preparing low-income students for college… the list goes on and on.

Here are some practical steps to researching charter schools:

1. Do a quick Google search for charter schools in your area. If you have a specific focus in mind, you can add that to the search (i.e., San Antonio charter schools for gifted and talented students).
2. Look at the school’s website. Focus on their mission statement and see if it aligns with your values.
3. Research how long the school has been established and its faculty retention rates. This is really important!
4. Follow the school’s social media accounts.
5. Post in social media groups to get perspective from other parents with kids who attend that campus.
6. Attend a fundraiser or community event for the school—bring the whole family!
7. Contact the campus and ask for a tour or a time to meet with the school leadership to give you more information about what makes their campus a good choice.
8. Use sites like Niche.com, GreatSchools.org, and public state records to review school ratings and academic achievement levels.
9. If your student has diagnosed learning differences and will likely be on a 504 or IEP plan, contact the campus to talk about the services provided for students with specialized needs. Be sure to ask what intervention programs they use, and you can look up those too! (This is an area where many charter schools struggle. In my personal experience, some charter schools want the ability to have selective enrollment like private schools but still receive public funding. So when parents ask about their services for IEPs and 504s, they make it seem like they are unable to provide the best services for the child since they are a charter school with a specific focal area. This is technically illegal, and charter schools should be providing the same level of intervention as local public schools. However, it is not very comforting for parents of students on 504 and IEP plans to know that the school doesn’t actually want to provide those services—so I would DEFINITELY recommend getting a personal feel for this if you have a child with a diagnosed learning difference.)

In general, charter schools provide a great alternative to your local public school if you are looking for your child to receive a free education that has something specialized or “extra” built into the curriculum that matches your family values.

How to Research Private Schools

Private schools are tuition-based schools that do not receive public tax dollars to fund their programs. This allows private schools to have more selective enrollment procedures (should they choose) such as applications, entrance exams, IQ tests, or other academic achievement data.

Here are some practical steps to researching private schools:

1. Do a quick Google search for charter schools in your area. If you have a specific focus in mind, you can add that to the search (i.e., San Antonio private schools for Christian education).
2. Look at the school’s website. Focus on their mission statement and see if it aligns with your values.
3. Research how long the school has been established and its faculty retention rates. This is really important!
4. Find out whether the school is accredited, and through what agency. Have they ever lost their accreditation or been put on probation?
5. Follow the school’s social media accounts.
6. Post in social media groups to get perspective from other parents with kids who attend that campus.
7. Attend a fundraiser or community event for the school—bring the whole family!
8. Contact the campus and ask for a tour or a time to meet with the admissions department to give you more information about what makes their campus a good choice.
9. Read private reviews about the school on the Internet. Since this is more of a service provider/consumer relationship with tuition in the mix, many people post reviews in public places.
10. If your student has diagnosed learning differences and will likely be on a 504 or IEP plan in a public school, they can have a “service plan” in a private school. It is important to note that having a learning difference will NOT disqualify your child from attending a private school, and it is important to share this information with the school so they can do everything in their power to help your student be as academically and socially successful as possible. Contact the campus to talk about the services provided for students with specialized needs.

Private schools are great for families that are able to budget for tuition and would like an educational setting for their child that incorporates things public schools cannot (such as religious education) or has a specialized focus built into their curriculum that is not controlled by the state education agency.

Overall, starting with your local public school and making decisions from there is my advice when deciding the best educational placement for your children. It may feel overwhelming, but relying on the community to help guide you by sharing their experiences can make it immensely more manageable.