Why we must vote to protect school choice in Colorado | PODIUM | Opinion

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Greg Lopez

School choice is the critical cornerstone that creates economic opportunity for families across Colorado. Protecting this right for future generations of Colorado students is an opportunity we have on the ballot this year. I urge you to protect this right in our state constitution by voting “yes” on Amendment 80.

The necessity of providing all students access to a quality education that fits their unique needs isn’t an academic question for me. It’s part of my lived experience.

From my earliest days, I saw the daily struggles of my mother and father to make ends meet and provide for our family. I grew up in a working-class household. My dad and mom were migrant agricultural workers. Dad’s education never went past the sixth grade and I’m not sure he ever learned to read and write. Mom’s schooling stopped at the 10th grade.

I am proud of how hard they worked. They deeply believed if I obtained the education they couldn’t, the possibilities in front of me were endless in America.

Neither they, nor I, ever dreamed how right they were. In one generation, I journeyed from those farm fields to the United States Congress.

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That is why I am so passionate about ensuring all children have access to a quality education.

In Colorado, we are fortunate we have a system of school choice that has served families well for decades. Families don’t have to accept the choice government makes for them in assigning their children to schools based not on their needs, but their home address. Educational freedom is particularly needed, and popular, in underserved communities and communities of color, as a lifeline for substandard schools.

For many moms and dads, choosing a different traditional public school, often within their home school district, is a way to find a school that better fits the needs of their children. Others select among the dozens of charter schools throughout our state — including a wide range of quality charters in my district.

I’m proud of the system of choice and competition we have in place in Colorado because, for decades, elected leaders from both parties have embraced the idea families, not government, should be in the educational driver’s seat.

There are storm clouds on the horizon, however.

Wealthy special-interest groups that too often dominate education policy discussions — and make big contributions to politicians — don’t like the hard work and accountability at the core of our school-choice system. They especially don’t like it when families have real power.

For years, these groups, including the teacher unions, have tried to hobble our school choice rights. They resist measures to make public schools more accountable and transparent. They fight for legislation — as recently as earlier this year — that would eventually destroy the charter schools parents and kids love.

It is relentless. One lesson I have learned firsthand in Congress is the powerful groups that want to limit our freedom are widespread, aggressive and in it for the long haul. Few are more determined than the anti-choice education groups.

Sooner or later, they will begin to win. When they do, Colorado kids, and our education system, will be the losers.

How can Colorado voters prevent this continual siege from eventually neutering our school choice rights?

It’s simple. Enshrine our rights in the state constitution.

Amendment 80, on the ballot this year, is clear. It says “all children have a right to equal opportunity to access a quality education.” It lists the various options Colorado families enjoy, and makes it clear that parents — not government — have the right to direct the education of their children.

That’s about as simple, and yet profoundly important, as it gets.

Once our school choice rights are secured in the state constitution, they cannot be damaged, as politicians have tried to do every year. Our rights will no longer be at the mercy of politicians and special-interest groups.

For working class Hispanic families like the one I grew up in, an open door to better schools is step one on the path to the American Dream. Voting yes on Amendment 80 makes sure this door remains open for Colorado kids now and for generations to come.

Please join me in voting to protect our school choice rights.

Greg Lopez, R-Elizabeth, represents Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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