COMMENTARY: Nevada families need more educational options

Today, most of us enjoy an incredible amount of opportunity to customize our lives. Consider our smartphones. In the span of a just a few years, advances in technology are allowing us to customize our smartphones in ways we could hardly have imagined. With thousands upon thousands of apps to choose from, our smartphones reflect our personal interests and needs in today’s modern world.

But when it comes to educating our children, opportunities for customization are elusive. That’s because for most families, the only educational opportunity they have is sending their child to their assigned public school.

For some, this works out well. But for other families, the assigned school is a poor fit that doesn’t serve the needs of their children. And instead of being able to pick up and move to another school in a different ZIP code, many students and families have no choice but to stay in their assigned school, even if it is dangerous, violent, lacks academic rigor or is simply unable to address the special needs of a child.

As it turns out, there is a better way. And until recently, Nevada was among a handful of states that was carrying out a new and innovative way of thinking about education policy known as education savings accounts (ESAs), freeing families with more educational opportunity for their child.

Under ESAs, families are allowed to access all or part of their children’s public education funding to pay for education-related services, including extra tutoring, school supplies, learning therapy sessions and even private school tuition. And while every ESA program differs in eligibility and spending restrictions, the overall concept remains the same: Families decide how and where to spend their education tax dollars.

The money follows the student, not necessarily the school.

Every family should have this education freedom, but there is a particular need to empower Hispanic families who are being ill served by the current educational system. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the Nevada high-school graduation rate is the third worst in the nation. Almost half of all African-American students in Nevada failed to graduate, while the Hispanic graduation rate in Nevada is only slightly better at 67 percent.

To some, the answer is more money, but research suggests otherwise. In Nevada, per-pupil spending has ebbed and flowed throughout the years, but education scores have remained largely stagnant. More money is not necessarily the answer. What’s needed is a smarter way to spend education dollars to meet the needs of our students.

ESAs have the power to do exactly that while empowering families to have a greater say in their child’s education.

Unfortunately, not all see it this way. There are some who vehemently oppose allowing parents and families to have greater educational freedoms, even if it means that low-income, minority families remain in low-performing public schools. As a result of their efforts, ESAs in Nevada are on hold until important funding questions are resolved.

But while some celebrate the ESA setback, Nevada families are asking themselves why only the fortunate should have access to a high-quality school. It’s a good question that cuts right to the heart of the discussion and leads to the follow-up question: Why should some families continue waiting in the hopes that the system will improve while other parents are able to take charge of their child’s education right here and now?

I hope Nevada families will not have to ask themselves these questions for another generation. Customization should also apply to education where families can choose for their children.

Ronnie Najarro is the Nevada coalitions director for the LIBRE Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit helping Hispanics grow more prosperous.