When I was a fourth-grade teacher at a public school in Aurora, I had an African American student in my class who was new to our school. By the time she got there, she was already several years behind in both reading and math. At the first parent teacher conference, her mom told me she had been miserable at her last school. She hadn’t been learning, and she didn’t have any friends.

Then, her mom told me since coming to our school she changed. She was now motivated and learning. She had hope. Her mom said, “I don’t know what would have happened to my daughter if we didn’t have the option to send her to this school.” Recently, I found out she received a scholarship to play basketball in college. Having more than one option for where to attend school led this fourth grader to a school that met her unique needs at a pivotal time and helped her learn and excel.

Having educational options — school choice — likely changed the trajectory of her life.

My former student isn’t alone. There are countless similar stories across Colorado (and the nation) — which is why it’s so important we protect school choice in our state. As the father of five young kids, I know children are unique and have different needs. One size doesn’t fit all. Every student deserves access to a high-quality education to set them up for success.

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That’s why I am a sponsor of Amendment 80. This measure is motivated by a simple goal: give every child the opportunity to succeed in life through educational options. Amendment 80 is the simplest question on Colorado’s ballot this year. It protects the current school choice rights we already have.

Why protect them if we already have them? Well, all of our school choice laws are statutory. This means they can be changed by politicians whenever they want. By putting school choice in our constitution, it will always be up to the people instead of politicians. When it comes to education, more options are always better than fewer.

My dad, who was African American, was the first person in his family to go to a four-year college. He later went on to earn a PhD and taught for more than 35 years. In his neighborhood, my dad was the exception, not the rule. Education was his pathway to not only get out of poverty and join the middle class, but also to influence a lot of people.

School choice is extremely popular across Colorado — and it’s most popular with minorities. The reason anti-school choice critics spend millions of dollars to lie about what Amendment 80 does is because they have a hidden agenda: to take away options from students and families. They prefer to keep our rights at the mercy of the politicians they lobby and donate to, rather than permanently protect them in our state constitution.

If you look at the Blue Book, you will see Amendment 80 has no impact at all on public school funding. You can’t have a lower fiscal impact than zero dollars. This measure is solely about students and families continuing to have the ability to access different educational opportunities.

Colorado’s current school choice laws were passed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But if you don’t think politicians are coming after school choice, think again. The writing is on the wall for anyone who wants to look. Just this past session, legislators tried to pass a law that would have harmed school choice. The sponsor of the law — who is an ally of the groups dumping millions in to oppose Amendment 80 — admitted her goal was to create the beginning of the end of school choice in Colorado. Fortunately, it didn’t pass — this time. But these types of laws will continue to be proposed until voters cement our school choice rights in our constitution.

This year, we have the opportunity do just that. Vote Yes on Amendment 80, and make sure kids like my former student have every opportunity to succeed and excel in life.

Michael Fields is the president of Advance Colorado