School choice plan focuses on needs of kids

While most children are enjoying their summer vacation, Rashan is spending his summer being tutored at home to prepare for a new school year this fall. When my son found out this spring he would not being attending the third grade next year, the tears started to flow.

He struggled at our neighborhood public school for the past two years, yet the teachers and administrators will not admit their system is failing him.

His class sizes have grown larger and larger, and Rashan got lost in the crowd. He needed extra help with his work, but the teachers were not been able to give him proper attention. All they could offer was an excuse and tell me he wouldn’t pay attention, that he was immature and that I should share this with his pediatrician.

The staff even coached me what to tell his pediatrician so the doctor would prescribe him medication. Our physician did not agree that Rashan could not focus or sit still. I know that for a fact because he can do his chores, read and complete his homework when he is at home.

In addition, for a brief period last year, I enrolled Rashan in an online charter school and he excelled. But I had to return to work and could not leave him home alone.

His challenges at school did not just center on academics. My son was bullied and unfairly disciplined. He would come home crying and complaining. In one incident, he said some kids were stomping on his little feet. And he said the teacher would reply that she couldn’t do anything about it.

I make these points to shed a light on how our schools are growing worse, yet parents are held hostage in a school system that is dysfunctional and doesn’t serve the needs of their children. But there is another opportunity that Rashan and others deserve.

The Nevada Legislature has adopted a groundbreaking school choice program that features Education Savings Accounts — or ESAs — and would be a blessing to so many parents, especially those who are poor and low income.

Under an ESA, the state deposits a sum of money in an account for the education expenses of a child.

By law, the ESAs for special-needs and low-income children are set for $5,700 annually. For middle- and upper-income students, the ESAs are set at $5,100 annually.

For working parents like me, there is great hope that this program could help pay for most of the tuition at a private school or for Rashan’s other educational needs.

Parents can use the money on tutoring, online education, special-needs therapy, fees for SAT or ACT tests, books or private school tuition.

But there are now lawsuits pending, attacking a program that offers so many parents hope. When I found out that groups were trying to stop state funding of the ESAs, I couldn’t understand why they would want to imprison these children in a system they know is dysfunctional and harms many children.

On July 29, the Nevada Supreme Court will hear arguments to decide whether to lift an injunction so the state can start issuing ESAs. For parents like me, the ability to access ESA money so we can exercise another choice can’t happen soon enough.

As the summer moves on, my son becomes discouraged. But all I can do is assure him that he is very smart and a good boy. I am worried that the more obstacles he encounters in his education, the more he will be turned off to learning. I wish those trying to stop the ESA could see the harm they are doing to these kids. These lawsuits are blocking children from something we should consider so basic, especially on this holiday: freedom.

These children are real, their lives matter and their futures matter. Let parents have the right to choose how to spend the education funds allotted for their children. If a local school can’t do the job, then every parent has a right to save her child.

Shannon Churchwell, a single mother of two who works in the real estate industry, resides in Las Vegas.