I’ve written before about the blame-shifting prevalent in the Tulsa Public Schools and elsewhere. State Sen. Jabar Shumate (D-Tulsa) is all too familiar with it. “A recent report revealed that 49 schools within Tulsa Public Schools received an F grade by the state of Oklahoma,” Sen. Shumate writes in the Chicago Defender. “Most of those schools are in my legislative district. I am constantly wondering how, with so many different avenues of resources and different ‘plans of action’ by our urban public school districts, we still get the same result!”

“We need to muster the courage to embrace new concepts for educating our kids,” Sen. Shumate says. Whether it’s charter schools, special-needs scholarships, or other school-choice measures, “it is time to move beyond talk and take direct action to improve quality educational options for our kids.”

Yes, it’s also true that we need to “fix public schools.” But it’s difficult to fix public schools that don’t want to be fixed. Often the best way to fix them is to embrace the sorts of options Sen. Shumate recommends.