A few years ago I read an article that asked the question, what do Ronald Reagan, Dianne Feinstein, Thomas Jefferson, Milton Friedman, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, both Presidents Bush and former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan have in common? My first thought was not much. However, it turns out that the common interest they shared is what I have always believed about education — parents should have the chance to make decisions about how their children are educated.

The author of that article also pointed out that rarely would such a group agree on much, but in this case, these leaders had all advocated for providing parents the ability to make choices for their children’s education options. In simpler terms, they all agreed that parental choice or school choice is a reform worth pursuing.

The relevance of that article was particularly memorable because it was written nearly six years ago, just as the school choice debate began to take off in South Carolina. Days before reading that article I had a conversation with a concerned mom about her children’s education. She was passionate about her responsibility as a parent to provide the best possible future for her children.

She believed that a quality education was a large part of that and was frustrated with the school her children were assigned to attend and its lack of response to her children’s needs. She believed it was an issue of fairness that no child in South Carolina should be denied a quality education because of a parent’s inability to move into a better school district or attendance area. She also told me of other parents struggling to find the best opportunity to educate their children, and that it was time for policy makers to understand that school choice could make that possible. As the parent of four children, I agreed with her and went back to Columbia and thought of her often as I cast votes that I hoped would give South Carolina’s parents more choices to seek the best education for their children.

Now, six year later, we have seen several attempts in the General Assembly to make school choice a reality in South Carolina. Around the nation, and in South Carolina, we have seen advocates of all backgrounds and parties join hands to make the case for increasing parent’s options with the ability to choose the best education for their children regardless of income. School choice has inspired passion from both advocates and opponents like we have rarely seen in Columbia. But I have heard this mom’s words, and those of numerous others, many times over these past six years.

Those concerns lead me to an obvious conclusion. The time has come for us to acknowledge what any parent knows. Parents must be empowered with their most fundamental responsibility — the right to choose what is best for their children. We are required by society and government to be responsible for our children in almost every way, but are prevented from choosing what may be best for them concerning education. The responsibility of a parent cannot end at the schoolhouse door.

As we watch our neighboring Southern states in Georgia and Florida guarantee parents the ability to be involved and make school choices, we must recommit ourselves to evaluating how South Carolina can best enable that right as well. We must build a public school system that is strengthened by a diversity of educational options, similar to the exceptional higher education system in our state that thrives on choice and similar scholarship programs.

Nothing could be more compelling in this debate than the multitude of parents who insist that policy makers must give them the tools to do what is best for their children.

Now more than ever I am encouraged that the growing array of diverse advocates for school choice and parental options can succeed in building a powerful education coalition. South Carolina families of different races, income levels, political parties and religious affiliations are joining together to take control of that most important decision in their children’s lives. In the end, our public education system can only be strengthened by school choice and educational options as parents celebrate their ability to provide the best they can for their children.

Rep. Harry Cato of Greenville County is speaker pro tempore of the S.C. House.

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