DENVER – Flagstaff Academy eighth grader Caleb Serrette gets it.

“Children need to go to a school that best suits them that way they’re learning something that is correct for them,” he told a massive crowd of supporters who gathered at the Colorado State Capitol Thursday for National School Choice Week.

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“That way they can go on and do good things in life,” he said.

Serrette was among several speakers – including Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien and Colorado Education Commissioner Richard Crandall – who discussed the important role parents play in selecting a school that best fits their child, 9 News reports.

Education advocates from charter schools, traditional public schools, online schools and home schools touted the many benefits of school choice as part of a nationwide effort to raise awareness about educational options – National School Choice Week.

“I’m sending my child away for eight hours of the day,” Crandall said. “I want to make sure there’s someplace where it’s safe, where they’re thriving, where they feel welcome, but also where they’re challenged and there’s high expectations.”

National School Choice Week – an annual national celebration of educational options – featured an astounding 16,140 events across all 50 states and other areas of the world this week.

This year, more than 232 governors, mayors, and county leaders issued proclamations recognizing the importance of school choice.

Schools like Pathway Christian Academy in Christianburg, Virginia highlighted the smaller classrooms and religious world view private schools can offer, WDBJ reports.

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While others pointed to the ability of charter schools to cater very specifically to student needs.

Raphael Martinez, executive director for the Albuquerque Sign Language Academy, believes his state’s charter school system paved the way for specialized schools to cater to students in ways traditional public schools often cannot.

The Academy, for example, is specially designed to educated hard-of-hearing and deaf students, and it’s the only one of its kind in the nation, Martinez told NM Politics at a Roundhouse rally for NSCW Thursday.

“Parents need options,” he said. “The days of cookie-cutter education are past. We no longer need to rely on just one way of delivering education. That’s what charter schools represent – choice.”

That choice, according to Atlanta actress and NSCW advocate Keshia Knight Pulliam Hartwell, is a social justice issue worth fighting for. The government-imposed system of public education, which utilizes imaginary geographic boundaries, is hurting minority students, Hatwell argued in a guest column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

“Some children flourish in a traditional public school, but others might need a scholarship tax-credit or an education savings account or a voucher or virtual schooling or home schooling,” she wrote. “All of these options should be readily available to our children. It should not be something only accessible for the well-to-do or the socially connected.”

NSCW also created a tidal wave online, no doubt fueled by celebrity endorsements from Deion Sanders, Vivica A. Fox, Louis Gossett Jr., Laila Ali, Kathie Lee Gifford and Jalen Rose.

“Millions of students benefit from #schoolchoice,” U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted today. “Let’s work to ensure even more families have these opportunities.”

“It’s my privilege to join families in WI & all across America to celebrate National #SchoolChoice Week,” he tweeted the day prior.

Sen. John McCain, presidential candidates Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, as well as numerous other politicians and celebrities spoke out in favor of giving parents more control over education.

More control for parents, of course, means less control for teachers unions, and some union officials refuse to acknowledge what millions across America already know: parents want and demand to guide their children’s education.

“#Schoolchoice doesn’t give choice to parents, but instead gives private voucher schools choice of students they want to accept or reject,” American Federation of Teachers president Rhonda “Randi” Weingarten groaned on Twitter.