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When you ask Dr. Charles Cole about the future of 鈥渟chool choice,鈥� he鈥檚 not going to mince words about his views of how the question itself is worded.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 named poorly, which probably leads to who gets to sit at the table and make decisions,鈥� said Cole, founder of the education advocacy group Energy Convertors. 鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 be called 鈥檚chool choice鈥�; it should be called 鈥榩arent choice.鈥欌��

鈥淚t鈥檚 always going to be parents and students for me.鈥�

Empowering parents, particularly those of color, to have a voice in how and where their children are schooled was one of the key themes of an Aug. 4 panel discussion presented by 蜜桃影视 and the Progressive Policy Institute鈥檚 Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools program.

As Cole put it, parents 鈥渉ave to be at the very head of that table and they have to be the coaches and quarterbacks of those teams because they are the people that have to live with the consequences of what these systems are doing with our babies.鈥�

Giving parents a choice is one thing. But giving them good choices is another, former Georgia state Rep. Alisha Morgan pointed out. 鈥淭here are parents here in Georgia,鈥� she said, 鈥渨ho are heartbroken, who are facing anxiety right now because they are faced with not having enough choices for their kids, having no choices at all or just having really really poor choices.鈥�

Morgan said she was disappointed that the loudest calls for more choice have come from advocates, rather than parents or students. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have the folks that are directly affected by this as the most significant part of the movement,鈥� Morgan said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 mostly us advocates 鈥� who are out front, who understand this, who are doing it. But we don鈥檛 see the number of parents that we need to see. And we don鈥檛 see the number of young people.鈥�

鈥淲e lack the sense of urgency that we need that would have existed in other movements.鈥�

She also noted how proponents of school choice 鈥� or parent choice, as Cole would put it 鈥� come to the issue from a full compass of viewpoints. 鈥淚t’s about equity for some and leveling the playing field for others. It might be about the free market for some; it鈥檚 about escaping schools that don鈥檛 work or just finding a school that just meets the needs of a child.鈥�

鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 know if we speak with one sound voice,鈥� she added. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if we have a clear direction or a clear end goal when it comes to choice.鈥�

The panel was a bookend to a similar event presented in June by PPI and 蜜桃影视, which focused on the 30th anniversary of the first law authorizing charter schools. While that conversation assessed the progress, frustrations and lessons of the past 30 years, the Aug. 4 discussion sought to peer into the future and address what school choice, charters and the entire education system would look like at the midway point of this century.

Naomi Shelton, CEO of the National Charter Collaborative, spoke forcefully about how Black and brown charter school leaders, particularly those running stand-alone schools, need more and better support.

Shelton called for an 鈥渙verarching level of support and advocacy and making sure that we鈥檙e 鈥� amplifying the work of these single-site leaders.鈥�

鈥淲e can talk all about the big-box chains of charter schools,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 the people who have decided to commit themselves to the individuals that are in the communities and that look like them that need the support right now.鈥�

Patrick Jones, senior vice president of the Mind Trust, called for the 鈥渂uilding of a comprehensive ecosystem around education鈥� to benefit school children of color.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 solve this problem just by getting schools to become better,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f prosperity in our community is going to be sustainable, we must understand that all academic, social and economic aspects of what schooling is is our responsibility. The whitest space in school reform right now is the finance room in any school district and in any charter school.鈥�

Jada Bolar, executive producer of the National Parents Union, offered a first-hand account of what school choice could mean to a young student of color in Akron, Ohio. Ten years ago, Jada鈥檚 mother, Kelly Williams-Bolar, after being convicted of lying about her residency to get Jada and her sister into a better school district.

In her new district, known as Copley-Fairlawn, 鈥渨e had greenhouses; we had computer labs; we had a rock-climbing wall,鈥� Bolar said. By contrast, 鈥渋n Akron, Ohio, we had a box, with dirt. And that was our greenhouse.鈥�

Her mom鈥檚 decisions 鈥渙riginally did backfire, but it set me up for the rest of my life,鈥� Bolar said. After her mother鈥檚 arrest, an anonymous donor came forward to pay her way into a private school. 鈥淗e reached to my mom and said, 鈥業鈥檓 super moved by your story. I want to help. I want to make sure that your daughter is continuing to get a better education.鈥�

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