By early next week, after Labor Day weekend has come to a close, just about every child aged 5 to 17 in the United States—homeschoolers excepted—will be back in school. And that means, for the most part, literally in school, unlike last year when much of the nation was racked by heated debates about buildings closed to in-person instruction. But just because that particular fight is largely over does not mean the school year is starting with pep rallies ringing out “Kumbaya.”

When it comes to COVID-19, conflict persists but the battleground has shifted. The locus is now masking, especially whether districts can mandate it. It is a conflagration fueled, it seems, as much by ideological as medical concerns: not just whether masking in schools mitigates the spread of the virus, but when should government be able to override private decisions. As Cato chairman Bob Levy has written, it is not a clear-cut case: When one person can inflict harm on another against their will, government action may be justified.

But COVID-19 is hardly the only huge flashpoint in education. Debates over critical race theory, or at least concepts such as systemic racism and unconscious bias subsumed under it, have embroiled school boards for months. The only thing that seems to be tamping that down at the moment is the masking debate, which surpassed CRT in urgency as kids had to physically return to school.

The way to avoid most of the crippling acrimony marring the start of the 2021–22 school year, as I and other analysts explain in School Choice Myths: Setting the Record Straight on Education Freedom, is, well, freedom: let educators teach as they see fit, and families choose among them. Let those who desire maximum COVID-19 protection via mask mandates choose schools with such policies. Let those who want their children to study ideas and be subject to policies informed by critical race theory pick like-minded institutions. And, as the book explains, also save taxpayers money, create better citizens, help kids who remain in public schools, empower children with disabilities, and more.

Perhaps a silver lining to overflowing frustration with public schools’ inability to serve diverse people equally is new energy behind educational freedom. Since the start of 2021, 18 states have either created new education choice initiatives or expanded existing ones, and it is estimated that maximum take-up would increase the number of kids served from roughly 600,000 to 2.4 million.

With nearly 54 million school-aged Americans that remains too little—most people will still have to engage in political combat to get public schools to provide what they want—so much work remains to be done. And that means myths about choice will still have to be confronted, this school year and beyond.