“Parents of our state deserve to have a voice in the education of their children.”

So said state Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, during a Thursday rollout of her caucus’ legislative package aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in public education.

We have four sons, ages 8, 11, 13 and 17. Because the oldest spends mornings at the community college tech campus, we keep track of four different public school buildings in three different districts.

Between core classes, fine arts and specialists, the eighth-grader alone has 13 different teachers across three trimesters – 15 counting his volleyball coach and student council adviser. Altogether we’re juggling about 30 teachers, administrators and staff members.

We get weekly grade emails for the older two – someone has been acing quizzes in his contemporary fiction elective – and for the younger ones, a regular digest of how they used their school-issued Chromebook. Each school sends regular e-blasts. Every teacher has an email address. The second-grade teacher emails most Fridays, explaining completed work and the coming schedule. Just while writing this column my phone buzzed to tell me the senior is getting a B in precalculus and went to the writing center instead of study hall for sixth period.

The elementary backpacks overflow with paper, though noticeably less than what we saw in the early 2010s. All the schools post regularly on Twitter and Instagram. A few weeks ago the elementary gym teacher set up an online stream of a floor hockey contest. Parent-teacher conferences were last week. Open house is planned this spring, which is different from fall curriculum night.

I can spend a few minutes on the K-8 district’s website to learn about the approach to teaching language arts across the entire age range, or go in-depth by watching an 18-minute video in which the district’s curriculum, instruction and assessment director focuses on just the K-5 approach.

My wife taught in two Illinois districts earlier this century, our kids have been enrolled in two others, and I’ve covered several school board meetings and elections in Illinois and Iowa. We understand not every parent has multiple children and acknowledge our districts have abundant resources that are not standard across Illinois. We also pay property taxes, routinely vote and believe schools are a public good beyond their meaning to individual families.

Serious debate will focus on which stakeholders deserve what influence, the composition and powers of the State Board of Education vs. local elected boards and most especially how we fund schools. Implying parents have no voice whatsoever is a disingenuous distraction.

If you’ve never been to a school board meeting, correct that blind spot. Education is a communal responsibility. Parental involvement is only part of the process.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.