In America, school choice is widespread—unless you’re poor. In few places is this truer than in Virginia. Middleand upper-income families can exercise school choice by moving to one of the many suburban districts surrounding cities like my hometown of Richmond. They can also maneuver through the system to send their kids to the few really good public schools that exist in cities like Richmond, allowing them to feel virtuous for supporting the “public schools” while protecting their children from the problems that plague the schools overall. Or, as many of the families in my old neighborhood did, they simply opt out by sending their children to one of the popular private schools in the area.