Americans agree that a child's future should not depend on his or her heritage, parents' income or neighborhood.

Our sense of justice insists that America be the land of opportunity where all citizens are considered equal, that wherever a student comes from or lives he or she should have the opportunity to succeed.

All children must have access to quality education. But how we carry this out has led to an ongoing debate. There are still people who have difficulty accepting that access should be relatively equal for all children. A small but powerful group fights to return us to an unequal system of funding education. This system re-creates a two-tiered, unjust public school system, that would provide poor or mediocre education for most children and excellent education for a select few.

But many states are beginning to reap many benefits from its recent commitment to equalizing education funding for all of its children. Student achievement has improved, taxpayers are more equally sharing the cost of paying for public schools, and businesses are seeing the results of better-prepared graduates.

We must say no to those who will weaken the system, privileging a few children to the detriment of many. We can have a strong public school system that provides an excellent education for all children.