The Black Alliance for Educational Options is shutting down for good at the end of the year, the group announced on its website Wednesday.
Founded by school choice pioneer Howard Fuller, BAEO is the only group at the national level focused exclusively on expanding school choice for low-income and working class African-American families—both through charter schools and school vouchers.
But the school choice advocacy world has become increasingly crowded in the 18 years since BAEO's founding, said Fuller who sits on the group's board, and that's meant more competition for visibility and funding.
"Some organizations, and ours is one of them, have a shelf-life," he said. "And we just reached a point where we had done great work but didn't see the ability to continue to do that work going forward."