The goal of ensuring that all kids in California have access to great public schools took a real blow this past Wednesday.

Yet again, a Capitol committee hearing room was home to the disheartening sight of Sacramento politicians ignoring the voices of hundreds of families and educators calling on them to vote no on AB 1505 and AB 1507. In their current form, both bills would make it easier to shut down charter public schools that are getting incredible academic results for our most vulnerable students.

As both bills move forward, it would be wise for legislators to listen to the wisdom of their colleague, Sen. Steve Glazer. During yesterday’s hearing, Glazer pointed out that charter schools have wrongly been assigned blame for longstanding issues plaguing school districts. Rather than endlessly scapegoating quality charter schools, he argued, we need to focus on fixing an education system that isn’t living up to its promise for far too many.

“There are 781 poor performing schools that this bill [AB 1507] will do nothing to change,” Glazer said.

It’s the failure of these schools, he noted, that’s causing parents throughout California to seek quality alternatives.

“They are saying, I don’t want to lose another year of my child’s life [to a low-performing school].”

Indeed.

The road to securing a great education for every student in our state is already a tough one. But it will be much, much tougher if we surrender to politics and extreme policies that sacrifice the needs of our most vulnerable students who are excelling in charter public schools.