Faced with ongoing attacks against charter schools from lawmakers and teachers’ unions, “school choice” proponents in Colorado are pursuing a ballot initiative to enshrine a constitutional “right” to “equal opportunity to access a quality education.” Critics on both sides of the issue, though, are concerned it may be a trojan horse.
“The people of Colorado cannot afford to wait for anti-choice activists to take away educational options for children,” said policy analyst Michael Tsogt with Advance Colorado, the group pushing the measure. “Putting the right to school choice in the Colorado Constitution grants it legal advantages a normal statute does not have.”
The language of Initiative 138 has already been approved. It states, “The people of the state of Colorado hereby find and declare that all children have the right to equal opportunity to access a quality education.” Quality education is not defined in the text of the proposal, meaning it would likely become the subject of litigation and legislation.
The measure also enshrines the right of parents to “direct the education of their children,” including through “neighborhood, charter, private, and home schools, open enrollment options, and future innovations in education.” However, it also declares in its second clause that, “Each K-12 child has the right to school choice.”
Alarm bells are already ringing. If a child has a “right” to pursue access to a “quality education,” the question becomes, “who will decide what is a quality education”? Imagine, for instance, if lawmakers or even a liberal court determined that Bible-based curriculum did not constitute “quality education.”
Perhaps even more alarming is the possibility that a child’s “right” to “school choice” could be at odds with parents’ God-given rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children, critics warned. It is hardly a far-fetched idea, with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child creating precisely such an issue under governments that adopt it.
The homeschooling community in Colorado is already sounding the alarm about the effort. “The ability of families to homeschool their children is rooted in two fundamental rights: parental rights and religious liberty,” Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC) Director of Government Relations Carolyn Martin told The Newman Report.
“The Constitutional amendment being presented in the name of ‘school choice’ potentially upends both of those by creating a child’s right to education and school choice,” she added. “In case of conflict, this places the state as the arbiter between parent and child. This could lead to severe impacts on homeschooling in Colorado.”
Supporters of the measure, of course, frame their argument in terms of protecting all forms of choice, including home education and private schools, from ideologues in the legislature, many of whom are bought and paid for by the government-education establishment.
However, as of now, the primary concerns cited by proponents of the ballot initiative appears to be bills seeking “accountability” and more bureaucratic oversight of government-funded charter schools. No serious threats to the independence of parent-led home education or privately funded private schools are even being alleged so far.
And yet, the ballot initiative conflates government-funded “school choice” with privately funded religious schools or home education, potentially blurring the line between the two. That has critics and skeptics alarmed about what may be in the cards, especially considering developments in other states.
Nearby Arizona, even recently touted as the national model for “school choice,” offers a cautionary tale. Just as critics warned, the “school choice” tax money is now being weaponized by Democrat state officials in an effort to rope homeschoolers and private schools back into the failing government system they fled.
“The ESA program lacks accountability and transparency,” complained Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs in a press release demanding more control. “With this plan, we can keep students safe, protect taxpayer dollars, and give parents and students the information they need to make an informed choice about their education.”
Among other goals, Hobbs and her allies including lawmakers and even the state attorney general are seeking to impose government-school “standards” on home educators and private schools. “Arizonans deserve to know their money is being spent on educating students, not on handouts to unaccountable schools and unvetted vendors,” she said.
Her plan would force any families and private schools receiving tax money to bend the knee. “My plan is simple: every school receiving taxpayer dollars must have basic standards to show they’re keeping our students safe and giving Arizona children the education they deserve,” Hobbs declared.
As this writer has documented extenstively, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) plan to bring “non-state education providers” under the boot of government is simple and public: Offer public money in exchange for government testing, data gathering, and control.
Such a scheme has been repeatedly used internationally. And it is likely one of the key reasons that billionaire population-control zealot Bill Gates of Common Core and Covid tyranny infamy is one of the top financiers of the “school choice” movement, even bankrolling “libertarian” organizations to push the scheme.
Ironically, on the other side, proponents of government’s education monopoly in Colorado contend the ballot initiative could be a ploy to bring in universal vouchers and tax funding for private education. The Colorado Sun just aired those concerns under the headline, “Could a potential school choice ballot measure lead to a voucher program in Colorado?”
University of Colorado Boulder School of Education Professor Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center, suggested the initiative could eventually lead to a statewide voucher program that would even include religious schools. “I think it’s a steppingstone,” he told The Colorado Sun.
“If the initiative passed, it could be a central part of a larger campaign, political and legal, that could ultimately result in a voucher program in the state,” continued Welner. “But I think that strategy looks to a five- to 10-year window or even longer and would have to have a lot of dominoes fall.”
The fact that efforts to protect parental rights and rescue children from disastrous government schools are gaining momentum should be celebrated. However, there are very clear dangers in the government-funded “school choice” approach that must not be ignored. The risk to educational liberty is far too great.
