A recent Saturday Night Live skit went viral for highlighting the problems everyone can clearly see within the education system. The skit jokingly declares, “COVID broke something we can’t fix.”

As a retired public school teacher and a mom of school-aged children, I doubt parents are in on the joke. The reality for many is dire and the need to address the brokenness of our education system is urgent, which is why school choice has become one of the leading issues in Missouri and around the country. Parents are not merely content to keep their kids in a school environment that will take years, if not decades, to fix. Though we all acknowledge that something must be done, the students struggling in our local classrooms need help right away.

So, when Missi Hesketh throws parents and their desire for school choice under a bus to score political points, parents aren’t laughing.

Long before school choice was a hot-button issue, I was confronted with this challenge head-on. My daughter, Izzi, attended kindergarten at our neighborhood public school, but because she uses a wheelchair, she could not access any part of the playground. She could not pull up to the cafeteria tables. She was unable to use the sink because it operated with a foot pedal. When we brought these challenges to her team at school, we were told that these modifications and accommodations could not be remedied for “just one student,” but they could be put into the building’s five-year plan. By the time changes would have been made, our daughter would be in another building.

No parent is willing to sacrifice five years of their children’s lives to a plan that should be implemented now. The only choice we truly had at that moment was to find a better environment for her right away. On a teacher’s salary, private school was not an easy option, but keeping Izzi in her current school was out of the question.

We investigated alternatives to educating her. We were fortunate to find an opening at a parochial school, which welcomed our daughter by building a ramp to the playground the day after we enrolled her. The tables in the cafeteria are round, which means she can access any table. The sinks are accessible. Most importantly to us, our daughter feels like she belongs. Now in 7th grade, she is on student council and is on the junior high cheer squad.

Today Izzi is thriving, but I shudder to think about the quality of life she would have at a school that could only begin to meet her basic needs within a five-year plan. My family’s story is unique, but we are far from alone.

Where Hesketh is perhaps the most in error is her suggestion that to be in favor of school choice for kids like Izzi means that you are anti-public school. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a retired public school teacher, I’ve seen the school system work for most students. But what about the kids on the margins who need something different? Those kids can’t wait for the system to fix itself, and they deserve better than to be told to simply hope for things to change at a systemic level.

Public schools work for some students. Parochial and private schools work better for others. Homeschools and microschools are a great option for some families. Shouldn’t parents, who know their children best, be able to choose which educational opportunity fits? I’m grateful to Missouri leaders for giving families options instead of treating students like the butt of a joke.

Becki Uccello lives in Springfield.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: School choice shouldn’t be treated as a joke