As COVID-19 spread in March 2020, schools across the country faced a problem: how, if at all, would they deliver education if children could not physically attend? They would have to get education at home. Thankfully, about 1.7 million American kids were already doing that through homeschooling. In this Pandemics and Policy issue, Cato scholars Corey A. DeAngelis and Neal McCluskey explain how, even after essentially being outlawed in every state as recently as the 1970s, their continued existence is proof of two important points. First, that children can learn at home, and second, that there is a ready source of advice and support for the more than 50 million children trying this for the first time.

Permanent closure of private schools due to COVID-19 financial strain hasn’t been as common as we initially feared, or at least not yet. Families and teachers who are facing diverse health and educational priorities need myriad options, so the lower‐​than‐​expected numbers are welcome news. However, Director of the Center for Educational Freedom Neal McCluskey notes that private schools are not out of the woods yet, and the right thing to do has always been to have money follow students, not fund government schools. COVID-19 only makes that policy change even more urgent.