Although it is the first week of school, my husband and I refused to send our twins, Aaron and Abigail, to our local Fulton County high school.

With its low test scores and dangerous incidents on campus, we have been hoping and praying for a miracle to find the money to return them to private school. Over the years, we have depleted our savings, our retirement funds, used our home equity, taken extra jobs and received gifts to send our four older children to private school to escape failing public schools.

(ENLARGE)

Lydia Glaize of Fairburn is a mother of six children.

But as our two youngest enter ninth grade, we have hit the end of our financial road.

To read the resistance to school vouchers editorialized at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution makes us want to ask opponents if they would like to spend a day in our family's shoes.

Instead of worrying about what would happen to the public schools if vouchers were available, the moral question to ask is, what will happen to children like Aaron and Abigail without vouchers?

Two weeks ago, I was invited to a speech by state Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) in which he offered a plan for thousands of parents like me, fearful for their children's future. His vision for education reform was not the same old solution to spend more money fixing a broken education system.

Instead, he wanted to give parents of children sentenced to failing schools and all parents their own tax dollars in the form of scholarships to transfer to a public or private school of their choice. My heart was overjoyed to have a politician understand my family's need for true educational choice.

The second piece of news was just as refreshing. Johnson revealed a statewide poll in which 76 percent of Georgia voters believe parents are the best ones qualified to make the decision where a child should go to school. Take note, those of you who want to tell me that I should send my kids to a failing school for the sake of saving public education.

In addition, the two public opinion polls — one in metro Atlanta and one statewide — each showed more than 65 percent support to give children stuck in failing schools a scholarship to transfer to another public or private school of their choice.

The tide has turned, and all demographic groups see the injustice in punishing kids like mine and making them attend a school that slams the door on their future. African-Americans, whites, Hispanics, Democrats, Republicans and Independents each strongly support vouchers for kids in failing schools and for all families wanting true school choice. After decades of watching educators and politicians make excuses why they can't provide a better education in certain neighborhoods, the public is demanding that elected officials do things differently in order to bring about a different result.

A scholarship would give my children options immediately, not in 20 years, after another education-reform program may or may not work. It could either pay all or most of private school tuition. Since virtually every private school has sliding scale fees based on family income, scholarships could help all families, rich or poor. Parents don't expect a handout, just an opportunity to choose the best educational vehicle available for their children.

In Washington, D.C., a federal voucher program in place for four years has given scholarships to children in some of the worst schools in the nation, with promising results. Ninety percent of students with vouchers are reading on a higher level than their peers stuck in public schools. That tells me that if my local school can't do the job, then my children should not be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness because of the state of their parents' checkbook.

I have lost sleep this summer knowing my kids and others could possibly wind up at a school where their academic success and physical safety are at great risk. A statewide voucher or scholarship program would be the great equalizer, providing the same education for those who live in fancy ZIP codes with fabulous public schools and the rest of us who work but do not have the resources to choose a first-class educational opportunity.