Students, parents, educators and elected officials continued their participation in School Choice Week with a discussion about some of the innovative approaches to education made available through school choice.

At a recent event in Mobile, State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) and State Rep. Chris Pringle (R-Mobile) took part in a panel discussion hosted by the National Coalition for Public School Options, according to a coalition release.

The common belief among the panelists was that parents should have the greatest say in their children’s education, a principle fundamental to the school choice movement.

“Parents want their children to succeed more than anything in the world,” Pringle said. “And they want options so they can give their kids the best education they can get.”

Albritton was quick to point out that school choice has brought new ways to improve education while also issuing a reminder that there is still work to be done.

“Charter schools were an innovation that took a whole lot of work, but we did it,” he said. “Slowly, surely, we’re starting to realize that more choice is better, but we still need to overcome some bias against it.”

A consensus also formed among the panelists that virtual education should be one of the options made more fully available to parents in Alabama as part of that innovative approach.

“I think you will start to see more and more of a blend, where students in virtual schools, and home school students, start to participate more in band, sports, etc, and students in brick and mortar schools start to more fully utilize virtual learning,” said Pringle.

Albritton and Pringle were joined on the panel by Wei Barr, her daughter Abby Barr and Alabama Virtual Academy Head of School Kayleen Marble.

Abby Barr, a sophomore in the Alabama Virtual Academy, thinks the focal point of education should shift toward learning and away from testing.

“I want to see schools more focused on the individual and less focused on teaching for tests,” Abby said. “It seems silly but the future of education is to actually focus on learning and less on testing what you’ve already learned.”

Efforts to reform education through school choice have ramped up in recent weeks, including the formation of a new group spearheaded by Phil Williams of the Alabama Policy Institute.

Tim Howe is an owner and editor of Yellowhammer News.