Today’s CapCon story highlights a student from Cesar Chavez Academy — a charter public school in Detroit — who will be attending one of the top universities in the world next fall.

Daniel Felix lives right near the former Southwestern High School in Detroit. Former, because the school was shut down two years ago for being repeatedly assessed as one of the worst high schools in Michigan.

That’s where Daniel would have attended high school without the option of Cesar Chavez. He credits the school for helping him succeed.

Unfortunately, there are many in the state who want to turn back the clock. While parents are demanding more school choice, many politicians voted to make their expansion illegal. Gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer has an “education plan” that would halt schools like CCA, which is run by the Leona Group. The public school establishment, looking after its own interests, continues to fight anything chipping away at their monopoly.

Allowing competition in public education makes all schools better. And this rests on a simple idea: The millions of parents of school children can do a better job picking where their kids should be educated than centralized politicians and bureaucrats.

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