Economic Bust, Schools, and Civil Rights
Buildings crumble. Teacher pay hovers at the bottom rung of the pay scale ladder. The public school system in America has long needed an overhaul. With the economy tanking, most schools will face very real and sizable budget cuts. Recession spells disaster for the public school system in the United States.
Unfortunately, budget cuts and a lack of resources spells doom for many students of color. Low-income school districts spend one-third the amount of money many suburban schools spend per student. Teacher salaries are less and the low-income student populations living in poverty need more social services and educational intervention than their middle class counterparts. These low-income schools serve poor Black, Latino, Asian families, and millions of poor white students, too.
The question remains, how will the new Administration approach educational reform? This is a critical civil rights issue. Zoe Burkholder points out that “History tells us three things about educational policy in America. First, more equitable public schools are going to require a redistribution of economic resources. Second, economic depressions strip public schools of the financial support we need to enact desperately needed improvements. And, third, racial segregation is rapidly increasing in American public schools and is directly correlated with profoundly unequal educational opportunity.”
No, education is not free. It’s expensive. Will the economic stimulus package provide enough money to improve and reform education? Or is it a quick fix that keeps schools dangling on the edge?
Do we, as a nation, value education enough to demand the reforms that will provide equal access and build a viable workforce for the 21st century?
Teachers College Record, Date Published: October 13, 2008
http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 15406, Date Accessed: 10/21/2008 10:36:13 AM
