This op-ed by Nina S. Rees appeared in The Denver Post on April 20, 2003.
There is a basic truth in American society: Having more options is always better than having fewer options. Whether purchasing a new car, deciding where to go on vacation or selecting flowers to plant in your front yard this spring, everyone likes to have options.
With the signing last week of a groundbreaking new school-choice law for low-income students, thousands of parents in Colorado will soon have one more option when it comes to the education of their children.
The new law builds on the principles of the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's historic education-reform initiative, by giving even more options to parents whose children attend under performing schools.
No Child Left Behind rests on four pillars: accountability; local control and flexibility; new options for parents; and funding for the programs that have been proven to work. As part of the accountability provisions, states must develop a plan that ensures 100 percent of students achieve proficiency on state standards in math and reading by the 2013-14 school year. These state plans have benchmarks to measure progress from year to year.
When schools don't meet the benchmarks, they receive extra assistance to help them improve. At the same time these under performing schools receive help, parents get new options, such as free tutoring and public school choice. What Colorado has done is expand the number of options available to the parents of qualified low-income students by also including private school choice.
In communities across America, millions of parents are clamoring for more and better options for their children. No Child Left Behind has provided some of them, and Colorado is now providing even more.
Some critics fear that giving parents this new option of private school choice will damage public education, but in fact studies have found the exact opposite is true. Giving parents greater choices and kids more chances does not hurt public education; it strengthens it and brings us closer to equal opportunity, especially for disadvantaged youth whose parents cannot afford the choices that more affluent families may enjoy.
Nothing is more powerful to school reform than an informed parent with options. The new Colorado law will improve education not only for children who choose different schools, but also for children who choose to stay in their public school. When parents have options on where to send their children, public schools respond by improving their performance.
Just last June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a choice plan that provides tuition for children to attend private (including religious) schools. This decision paved the way for states to offer this new option to parents. By passing this law, Colorado has proven once again to be a leader among the states in education reform.
Having options is not some experimental idea. It is part of the very fabric of American life. It is an expectation.
The No Child Left Behind reforms provided Colorado's parents with options. Gov. Bill Owens and the legislature have now provided one more.
By Nina S. Rees
Nina S. Rees leads the newly created Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, overseeing the administration of approximately 25 competitive grant programs. The office helps to make strategic investments in promising educational practices and provides leadership for parental options, information and rights.
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