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Rafael Cordero Molina Elementary School is named after the founder and patron saint of Puerto Rico’s educational system. The commemorative title is appropriate because the school is located in the predominately Puerto Rican community of Camden. However, “El Santo Varon” Rafael Molina would weep if he saw how the school named after him is failing its students. Currently, it takes six years for students to graduate from Molina, and by that time most still do not know how to read or write.

Like nearly every other school in Camden this year, Molina Elementary failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Less than half the students passed the state proficiency test in language arts or math. According to No Child Left Behind, a school that fails to meet AYP entitles students to transfer to another school in the same school district. In spite of this federal mandate, not a single student has transferred out. Why? Because no adequate options exist for them.

Now, nineteen out of thirty Camden schools failed to make AYP and are labeled “in need of improvement.” Many of these schools have failed for the fifth year in a row. According to NCLB guidelines, that means every child enrolled at those schools – more than 12,000 of the district’s 16,000 students – are now eligible for a transfer.

Where can they all go? The handful of Camden schools that did succeed in making AYP are already stretched to capacity; they don’t have any more available seats. Transferring students to an outside school district seems like a reasonable option – in neighboring Cherry Hill, for instance, where more than 90% of students are proficient in math and reading. However, the only way to switch to a school in another district is through the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program (IPSCP). This recently developed program, praised by politicians and school officials, claims to “increase educational opportunities for New Jersey students by providing them with the option of attending a public school outside their district without any additional cost to parents.” In reality, the initiative offers almost no options at all. Only sixteen schools in the entire state actually participated in the program last year, offering a combined total of only 567 open seats. And none of them are in Cherry Hill or anywhere else near Camden. What kind of option is that?

In many American cities, charter schools have been a successful way to provide parents with more choices. But the school board here has effectively stifled the charter school movement in Camden. Only three small charters have been opened, and none of them have the capacity to take new students.

Wealthier families have long had options. Usually, dissatisfied wealthy families can move to another area where student achievement is higher than urban cities. On the other hand, they can pay to send their children to private schools where they earn good grades and enjoy a safe learning environment. Why are these options being denied to Puerto Rican families in Camden?

Hispanic kids at schools like R.C. Molina and their parents cannot continue to wait for promised improvements that might come in five or ten years, if ever. Latino families need a reform that brings real help like means-tested vouchers. Let’s stop perpetuating a system that traps students in failing schools like Molina Elementary. Instead, let’s give the power to the parents so that they can pick the best education for their children.

Isabel Santa is the Associate Director of Communications and Research at the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options (Hispanic CREO) in Washington, D.C.