At tonight’s Democratic presidential debate, it’s possible that the contenders will be asked something about education. But don’t expect them to say much. All of the Democrats are firmly in the pockets of the teacher’s unions and, no matter what they may privately think about the issue, will stand with them against any reform of public education in this country. The teachers fear any change including efforts make the schools more accountable, improving standards or offering any form of school choice for parents and children. In the context of Democratic primaries, unions have the political muscle to crack the whip and make liberal candidates fall into line behind their status quo orthodoxy. That’s why none of the Democratic candidates have agreed to appear at a forum that was scheduled for later this month sponsored by The Seventy Four, a must-read education website run by former CNN anchor Campbell Brown. The cold shoulder given that reform advocate by all the Democrats, even those that have no chance to compete with Hillary Clinton for their considerable financial support, speaks volumes about the fact that liberals don’t merely want to oppose change, they won’t even talk about it, even if it means betraying the people that they claim to care most about.

The fact that Democrats are so resistant to even an open discussion about education issues reflects the cognitive dissonance at the core of the liberal coalition that supports the party. Democrats spare no effort to portray themselves as advocates for the poor and especially for disadvantaged minorities. Indeed, after every upheaval in which the suffering and hardship experienced by minority communities has been highlighted, such as the riots in Ferguson, Missouri or Baltimore, a lot of lip service is paid to the need for better schools. Education is the one factor that can break the cycle of poverty that is imposed on the poor by a welfare state that creates multi-generational dependence on the state.

Moreover, minorities, especially African-Americans and Hispanics, that understand their children are often trapped in failing public schools that have no incentive to change or improve, are strong believers in reform. They want their kids to have the chance to go to charter schools and leap at the opportunity afforded by pilot school choice programs.

These are issues that ought to belong to a party that keeps telling us they care about the working poor and those left behind by society. Yet the teacher’s unions are so powerful that not a single Democrat at tonight’s debate will seize the chance to stand out as someone who cares about helping poor kids. Even the small moves toward reform that President Obama and his Department of Education have embraced find no favor with the unions, and you can bet that none of the Democrats will even support the most liberal White House in memory against them.

Of course, the clout of the unions is not the only factor behind this act of cowardice. Liberals are predisposed to fear education reform for another reason. Their inherent distrust of competition and the free market is also at play here. If schools and the bureaucrats that serve them were forced to compete, they’d have to change or die. But the unions, whose economic power stifles the natural desire on the part of many of their members to want to improve the schools, have other priorities. Their only concern is maximizing salaries and benefits and keeping the system in thrall to their opposition to forms of accountability that might have teachers judged on merit rather than seniority. If the kids lose, that’s merely collateral damage to be discounted in the unions’ never-ending war to preserve the public schools as a sinecure for themselves and their allies.

Education ought to be a wedge issue for reform-minded Democrats as well as Republicans who generally support school choice. Sadly, this is a topic that has been sidelined in the great debates over healthcare, entitlements, and spending. Moreover, most Republicans have not bothered to expend much energy or effort in trying to woo minority voters since they seem unlikely to bolt the Democrats, especially as long as Barack Obama is the face of that party. Many on the right also foolishly concentrate their interest in education on opposing Common Core standards. While there is a reasonable debate to be had about whether the federal government ought to be involved in imposing standards, this is but a sidebar to the broader question of creating a system based on choice and which creates the accountability the schools desperately need.

The challenge for candidates in 2016 is whether they will talk about the one domestic issue that might have the greatest impact on our future as a society. Both Democrats and Republicans who believe that all children are equally made in the image of God, regardless of race or economic background, have an absolute obligation to take up Brown’s challenge on education reform. But if Democrats are afraid of crossing the unions, minority voters will be given most of their votes to a party that is betraying their children. The questions Democrats won’t answer tonight speak to that scandalous abandonment of those most in need. Brown’s forum deserved a better fate that the shutout she got from Democrats after six Republicans turned up to answer her questions in August. Minority voters ought to draw conclusions about this and, at the very least, demand that Democrats start talking about education reform.