While the national discourse focuses on the merits of school choice initiatives in their own right and for their own sakes, as
leaders of state and
local education systems, as educators of diverse regional, political, and professional backgrounds, we believe that these policies are better thought of as
means to critical ends, and that the goal of these and other
education policies should be, above all else, the enhancement of skills for America's youngest generation and expanded opportunity for children to thrive as adults.
It
means talking with parents and community activists worried about children with greater needs having access to fewer resources,
local business
leaders concerned about protecting the critical contributions of public schools to their
local workforce and economy, and many others who have a stake in public
education and our country's future.