The choices families make are personal. The conditions that force those choices are not. EdTrust examines what it will take to build a public education system that works for every student
September 24, 2026 by EdTrust 
Nikole Hannah-Jones’ recent essay on the choice she made as a Black parent in New York City has sparked a national conversation about what families are up against, and what they’re willing to do for their kids. It’s a conversation we expect to keep growing as we head toward the midterms.
Here’s where we stand: parents should not have to be this resourceful, this mobile, or this exhausted just to get their kid a fair shot. Good policy makes good schools. That’s the whole idea behind A Nation of Promise, our agenda to guarantee every student, regardless of race, income, background, or ZIP code, an excellent education.
Our team responded this week with three pieces that make the case together.
Black Parents Should Not Have to Choose Between Tutoring and Therapy
Augustus Mays writes that poor school conditions are not natural and not inevitable. They are the result of policy choices, which means they can be changed by better ones.
Three Generations. Three Choices. One Reason: A Good Education
Ameshia Cross shares her mother’s story: fighting alone, one child at a time, for what should already exist.
There’s No Right Choice in a Broken Education System
Letisha Marrero reflects on a decision with no good option in front of it: proof that a system forcing parents to choose between bad outcomes isn’t offering choice. It’s failing them.
Read together, these pieces move the conversation from what one parent decided to what our country owes every child.
Photo by Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages
September 24, 2026 by Letisha Marrero Parents have to make tough decisions when it comes to their child’s education. Some have a choice. But many Black and Latino parents don’t. Here’s one mom’s story of sacrifice
September 24, 2026 by Ameshia Cross From the South to Chicago, one family’s determined quest to provide an excellent education for their child
September 23, 2026 by Augustus Mays The impossible choices Black families make reveal what America must transform
