By Peter Mason

Colorado is now the No. 1 state in the nation for education, according to the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best States rankings. That is a distinction worth celebrating. It is also a distinction worth understanding.

Rankings like this one rarely have a single cause. Colorado’s rise to the top reflects the work of dedicated teachers, effective school leaders, committed families and policymakers who have, over many years, prioritized our schools and students. All of that matters. But if you want to understand why Colorado has consistently outpaced other states, and why it now sits at the top, it’s important to understand one defining feature of Colorado’s education system: this state increasingly equips its students and parents with options when it comes to public education.

Colorado enacted its Charter Schools Act in 1993. It was not a popular decision across the education ecosystem. Critics argued allowing families to choose among public schools would fragment the system, drain resources from traditional district schools and produce uneven results. More than three decades later, the evidence points in the opposite direction. Colorado is No. 1.

Today, roughly one in seven Colorado public school students attend a public charter school, representing nearly 16% of total public-school enrollment. More than one-third of Colorado families actively use the state’s open-enrollment system to choose a public school outside their assigned attendance zone. These are not niche figures. They reflect a statewide culture that has normalized the idea different students have different needs, and a single school model cannot serve all of them equally well.

That culture has produced something remarkable: one of the most diverse public-education ecosystems in the country. Colorado families can choose from schools built around STEM education, dual-language immersion, Montessori instruction, career and technical education, outdoor and expeditionary learning, arts integration and early college pathways. That diversity is not a liability. It is one of Colorado’s greatest competitive advantages in education.

Charter schools have been central to creating it. Colorado’s public charter schools are tuition-free, open to every student, publicly funded and held to rigorous standards of academic and financial accountability. They cannot select their students. They cannot charge tuition. What they can do, and what they are specifically designed to do, is innovate and excel. Charter schools operate with greater flexibility than traditional district schools, and in exchange, they are held to a clear standard: produce results or face consequences. That accountability structure drives improvement in ways other, more bureaucratically constrained systems often cannot match.

Dan Schaller, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, said: “Colorado’s students are as diverse as our incredible state and no single model of education can meet every child’s unique needs. When families have real options among high-quality public schools, students win. Being named the No. 1 state in the nation for education affirms our long-standing commitment to school choice and excellence is the right path forward.”

He is right, and the ranking confirms it.

What Colorado’s No. 1 ranking should put to rest is the argument school choice comes at the expense of educational quality. It does not. Colorado is the proof. In acknowledging Colorado’s ranking, Gov. Jared Polis made this point about public school choice: “Today, nearly 40% of Colorado public-school students — more than 347,000 children — attend a public school other than the one assigned to them based on their address. That share has increased by more than six percentage points since the 2016-17 school year.”

The challenge now is to build on what works. That means expanding access to high-quality public charter schools in communities where families still face limited options. It means strengthening open enrollment so geography and income do not determine opportunity. And it means using this ranking as a lever to keep pushing for greater access and innovation.

Colorado became No. 1 by embracing choice. Staying there requires embracing it again and again for every family still waiting for a school that fits their child.

Peter Mason is vice president of communications at the Colorado League of Charter Schools, a membership organization representing the interests of Colorado’s 262 public charter schools serving more than 136,000 students statewide.