The drive for greater social justice in Colorado seems to continually avoid truly shaking up the one institution that is essential for independent, productive and successful lives: public education.

Turning a real reform spotlight on the perennial shortcomings of the K-12 system, and bucking the anti-accountability, anti-family teacher unions must rise on the state’s agenda, particularly to help families struggling to build a brighter future for their children.

And the one person who can truly spark significant reform, perhaps more than any blue state governor, is Jared Polis, a once and (hopefully) future education reformer.

Every January, business groups announce their legislative agendas annually highlighting the challenges of finding qualified workers and urging a renewed focus on education and training. It has been this way for decades, stretching back to the 1980s and the Reagan-era report that decried the “rising tide of mediocrity” in K-12 schools.

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And 40 years later, families – particularly in urban centers – are beset with substandard schools they cannot escape while the teacher unions chortle, stiff-arming even the most benign efforts to instill accountability for schools and teaching.

Without question, Colorado is better than many states when it comes to offering families the ability to choose schools for their kids. With a legacy of once-politically red Colorado, and a bipartisan drive for change, Colorado boasts a robust system of public school choice, including the double-digit percentage of students enrolling in charter schools (despite continuing assaults on charters from teacher unions).

But, today, the multiple problems created by the political left, led by teacher unions, have made a struggling American school system even worse.

Let’s look at this educational demolition derby.

Exhibit A is the emotion driven, anti-science extended COVID closure of schools to in-person learning far past any reasonable rationale. These closures plus the month-after-month needless masking of children were policies often demanded by teacher unions despite the concerns raised by school administrators.

These virtue-signaling policies erased two decades of growth in student achievement. For example, in eighth grade math the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed a whopping 38% of students scored below the basic level. That’s up sharply from the (already unacceptable) 31% in pre-pandemic 2019. The cratering is seen throughout grade levels.

Combine the problem of declining outcomes with the rise of hard-left policies supported by a sliver of ideologues. Instead of keeping the focus on the core issues of instructional quality and academic achievement, too many schools have run amok on issues of gender, race and other hot-button cultural topics, often to the irritation of parents.

The result of the one-two punch of a demonstrable drop in academics and a concurrent rise of distracting, highly controversial side issues has been families voting with their feet and walking toward better schools, a well-documented trend.

That is far from sufficient to spark systematic change, particularly for families stuck in poorly performing schools while the teacher unions stand in the schoolhouse door and tell them they must endure rather than escape.

Why wouldn’t  Gov. Jared Polis, heading into his sixth legislative session, lead the charge with a bold educational freedom agenda?

It is too-often forgotten that Polis, the founder of a charter school, cut his teeth in politics as a serious education reformer who embraced the benefits of market forces in the school system. Recall that the Colorado education establishment had an “anybody but Jared” hope when he ran for governor.

Perhaps he could embrace Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), as other states are doing, where the state provides eligible families with funds for school-related expenses, including private school tuition. Or create educational warranties, where a district would have to foot the bill for additional schooling if an employer finds a graduate lacks the skill his diploma says he has.

Or he could focus a freedom agenda on demonstrably failing public schools, one building a time, examining exactly where and how funds are being invested, opening the doors to real transparency and accountability – and where possible setting captive families free.

Pipe dream? Probably. But why not leave a legacy that will truly change the future for millions of kids, something that taking over local zoning can never do. The Polis legacy could be marked by him coming full circle to what launched his public career: bold, out-of-the-box school reform that puts families first.

If we hear squeals from the education establishment, we’ll know something good is happening.

Sean Duffy, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens, is a communications and media relations strategist and ghostwriter based in the Denver area.