It was a delightful shocker: A rally that really mattered.
Dozens of elementary school kids, parents and teachers assembled on the west steps of the Capitol building Wednesday. The gathering was organized by the Coalition for Public School Choice, which consists of 13 diverse groups such as the Denver Arts and Technology Academy and the Latino Coalition for Choice in Education.
All in attendance believed Colorado is a leader in education reform. And all were determined to keep it that way.
But choice? There are always legislators who will find the idea extreme and intolerable. What other explanation can there be for the concerted effort launched in Colorado to erode the progress the state has made?
The chief adversaries to any and all choice in Colorado education are the chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, Democrat Sue Windels, and the House Education Committee chairman, Democrat Mike Merrifield.
One Capitol insider explains: “Windels and Merrifield believe they are virtuous. Well, more virtuous than you.”
“You” means Colorado parents and children, particularly those of you who challenge the entrenched bureaucracy of the teachers unions.
That condescending attitude leads legislators to heights of inspiring hubris. (Eye-rolling and dismissive questions toward witnesses at a recent House hearing with parents of challenged children, for instance.)
While parents may be easy prey, it’s a bit harder to dismiss the accomplishments of Lawrence Hernandez, director of the successful Cesar Chavez Academy in Pueblo.
Hernandez, the rally’s first speaker, highlighted the extraordinary gains of the charter-school movement.
When Hernandez introduced the rally’s next speaker, Gov. Bill Owens, a legislative victory for parents was announced to cheers. The egregious Senate Bill 71, which would have permitted hostile local school boards to deny charter applications, was struck down.
“You know what really puzzles me? The Democratic Party, the one that is supposed to be for the disenfranchised, has it completely backward,” Hernandez explains. “The demand for charter schools has come from mostly poor and minority parents. In Pueblo, we have 2,000 kids on our waiting list.”
The Colorado Education Association sends around 92 percent of its contributions to Democratic Party candidates, so it’s not exactly a mystery.
(Windels and Merrifield have benefited generously from thousands of these special-interest dollars.)
But still, why would any Democrat oppose public-school choice?
Hernandez says Cesar Chavez Academy is a perfect example of an opportunity to change the system, and “that’s what they’re afraid of.”
His school is composed of 80 percent minority students, and reading and math levels are off the charts. Hernandez believes we have an educational establishment “that is not pro-children.”
“It’s pro-employment,” he says. “And that’s not really the purpose of public education.”
Coming from a traditional public- school background and having worked in that environment his entire life, Hernandez says he never thought he would become an advocate for charter schools.
“I said, ‘You know what? I’ve worked in public schools so long, and nothing is changing. Every time we make a reform, we take a couple of steps backward,”‘ he says.
Hernandez believes that unions and many local school boards feel that because they are the experts on public education, they should be the only ones that have the right to educate children.
But if they’re doing such a great job, why are massive numbers of parents begging to flee the system?
“What they should be looking at is how they can improve,” Hernandez says, “not at how they can crush the charter-school movement.”
Judging from the rally Wednesday, they don’t have a chance.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
