By Shawn Peterson
President, Catholic Education Partners
An option is something that exists; a choice is something you have the freedom and ability to make.
For too many parents in our country — especially those who live in minority communities, disadvantaged neighborhoods or many rural communities, and for families who are struggling economically — there is only one option for the education of their children. Therefore, there is no choice.
Many parents are forced to send their children to local schools that might fail to educate their children or meet their needs as parents. Those parents feel trapped and cannot fulfill their responsibility as primary caregivers for their children and as primary educators of their children. Though this may seem foreign to many Americans who have abdicated this role to the educational establishment, Catholic social teaching is very clear: Parents are the first educators of their children. Therefore, they must have choices to address their educational needs appropriately.
A parent must have the ability to say, “This school or this type of education isn’t the best fit for my child, and I need to make a different choice.” But if no opportunity for choice exists, it doesn’t matter what the parent knows or thinks; they are rendered powerless. And no parent should have to feel that way when it comes to their child’s educational future. Parental choice in education is essential because no one knows a child better than his or her parent. No one else can better judge daily if their child is learning. No one should know better what their child is going through at school or if their education needs — no matter what they are — are being met.
We should all recognize these as fundamental rights of the parents, whom God, in his providence, explicitly chooses for each child as the fruit of their love. Allowing the State and its bureaucratic representatives to dictate a child’s educational choices should be rejected by all Americans, especially Catholics, who have historically been marginalized in the “public” classroom. As with education, we should be appropriately aghast if the government were to try to intervene and, for instance, name our children or set itself up as a primary source of their existence and identity. If we do not see that education with parents’ direct control and determination is required, we might not value education or parenthood enough. The Church holds both in extraordinary esteem and thus recognizes the inherent link between them.
While the Church has long taught that parents have the right to direct their child’s education, in 1965, the Church made one of its most definitive statements on the subject.
In Pope St. Paul VI’s “Declaration on Christian Education” (Gravissimum Educationis), he states: “Parents who have the primary and inalienable right and duty to educate their children must enjoy true liberty in their choice of schools. Consequently, the public power, which has the obligation to protect and defend the rights of citizens, must see to it, in its concern for distributive justice, that public subsidies are paid out in such a way that parents are truly free to choose according to their conscience the schools they want for their children” (#6).
This teaching may seem jarring to some American ears, but it flows logically from the Church’s more fundamental understanding of the human person and the role of society. Since all people are made for relationship with God, and education plays an intrinsic role in leading them toward God, the state and society must be oriented toward providing students and their parents with the possibility of pursuing this fuller and more authentic form of education. For instance, a family’s limited economic means might provide a practical challenge to providing their students with an education that conforms to their religious and moral convictions. Though their right to access this kind of education is financially out of reach, the state should help them overcome these difficulties as a matter of justice.
One of the most critical developments in this regard in recent decades is the increased prevalence of education choice. Also known as school choice, or most properly, parental choice in education, education choice refers to public policies that allow families to choose the best learning option for their children, regardless of income level, zip code or other factors. These education choice policies represent a practical and powerful application of the Church’s teaching that parents are the primary educators of their children and the State’s obligation to support the right of parents to access an education that best serves their child, including one that might incorporate moral and religious formation consistent with their convictions.
Therefore, true social justice demands that we support policies that provide all parents, not only those with economic means, with more educational opportunities for their children. Parental choice programs level the playing field by supplying the means for all parents to enjoy true liberty and for every child to attain a better education. After all, a good education is one of the best ways to ensure that a person will have a good start in life and be able to contribute to society and the common good.
This November, all Coloradans, including, of course, the Catholic citizens of the state, will have an opportunity to vote in favor of the fundamental Christian belief that parents do indeed have a right to direct their child’s education and, by doing so, support a fundamental Catholic teaching that parental choice is just and supports the common good. If Amendment 80 passes, it will enshrine in the State Constitution the principle that all children have the right to equal opportunity to access quality education, that parents have the right to direct the education of their children, that school choice includes neighborhood, charter, private and home schools, open enrollment options, and future innovations in education and that each K-12 child has the right to school choice. What an amazing option you have before you, and what a gift to posterity you will have the choice to make.
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