Few choices will be as easy this November as voting for Initiative 138. Ballot initiatives are rarely this short and clear. This one simply says “all children have the right to equal opportunity to access a quality education; that parents have the right to direct the education of their children; and that school choice includes neighborhood, charter, private, and home schools, open enrollment options, and future innovations in education. Each K-12 child has the right to school choice.”

That’s not a summary: it’s the actual amendment to the Colorado Constitution. The initiative does not create additional public or private school choice programs; it affirms parents’ and students’ rights to choose the school that best meets their needs.

It’s easy to take school choice for granted. When I was growing up every student attended the neighborhood school assigned to him or her by the district. Only parents who could afford private tuition or could move to a neighborhood with great schools had any choice in the matter. Fortunately, this began to change in the early 1990s as the legislature passed multiple school choice bills.

Today, parents can choose from a variety of options including the neighborhood assigned school, other public schools within or outside the home district, and district choice schools (magnet, online, alternative, innovation, and option schools). The state also has 264 independently managed public charter schools. Homeschooling and independent private schools remain an option for those who can afford them.

School choice is popular. A record number of DPS students submitted applications this year to attend a different school than their assigned neighborhood school. Currently 42% of DPS students attend a charter or non-assigned public school of their choice.

Although Colorado provides vouchers for private preschool students through its Universal Preschool Program and for undergraduate college students attending private institutions under the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative, the state does not support students who attend k-12 private schools.

Our state is an outlier. All but 17 states, including six of Colorado’s neighbors, provide some kind of support for families who choose private schooling options.  Seventeen states have education savings accounts students can tap for private school tuition and homeschool expenses. Fourteen states have voucher programs, 22 states have scholarship programs funded through tax credits, and ten states allow parents to deduct or get a tax credit for private school expenses.

Why affirm a right people take for granted?  The past few years, the legislature has considered bills that would constrict charter school options.  Although they have not passed, it is likely advocates will continue to try for the foreseeable future.

Thus it is important that we keep these school doors open. Parents look at a lot of factors when choosing a school including academic performance, proximity, specialized programing, philosophy, and student support. No school can be all things to all students. Families have different priorities, circumstances and expectations; children have diverse needs and interests. Thus what matters most to them differs considerably from family to family.

The right to choose a public or private school was affirmed a century ago in the 1925 Supreme Court decision Piece v. Society of Sisters. The court struck down an Oregon law pushed by the Ku Klux Klan and other nativists that explicitly excluded private schools from the state’s compulsory education law. “The child is not the mere creature of the state,” the Court held; “those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.”

We have an opportunity to assert that right for ourselves this November.

Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on X: @kristakafer.

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