Protect the Promise of Brown v. Board: Don't Divert Funds from Minority Students
- by: NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
- recipient: U.S. Senate
On a party-line vote, the House Education and Workforce Committee approved a bill that threatens to reverse decades of progress in advancing civil rights and equal access to education for minority students.
In 1965, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, aimed at providing additional funds to states and school districts that serve disadvantaged students, many of whom are African-American and Latino.
But the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act now threatens the educational opportunity of millions of minority students nationwide. The bill would give states and school districts limitless power to divert funding from programs that serve disadvantaged students. This "false flexibility" is insulting to educators and students alike.
If we are ever to fully realize the promise of Brown v. Board in eliminating the mindset of "separate but equal," this bill cannot become law. Tell the Senate to reject the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act.
In 1965, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, aimed at providing additional funds to states and school districts that serve disadvantaged students, many of whom are African-American and Latino.
But the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act now threatens the educational opportunity of millions of minority students nationwide. The bill would give states and school districts limitless power to divert funding from programs that serve disadvantaged students. This "false flexibility" is insulting to educators and students alike.
If we are ever to fully realize the promise of Brown v. Board in eliminating the mindset of "separate but equal," this bill cannot become law. Tell the Senate to reject the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act.
Dear [Decision Maker],
I write to express my strong opposition to the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act (H.R. 2445), which was approved on a partisan vote by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. This legislation threatens to dismantle portions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that provide critical support for low-income students, English language learners, migrant children, delinquent and neglected youth and Native American students. Under the guise of providing "flexibility," H.R. 2445 invites states and school districts to rob already scarce resources from disadvantaged students, many of whom are students of color. It would trample forty-plus years of progress in the struggle for civil rights and educational equity for our nation's most vulnerable children.
[Your comments will be added here]
In 1969, four years after the enactment of the ESEA established federal aid for the education of low-income students, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and the Washington Research Project (the parent organization of the Children's Defense Fund) published Title I of ESEA: Is It Helping Poor Children? The report found that students were harmed because millions of dollar appropriated by Congress to help children in poverty were "wasted, diverted or otherwise misused by state and local school authorities." The report unquestionably demonstrated that without appropriate federal oversight, the intent of Congress to assist poor students was ignored.
As a result of such finding and other efforts, Congress added much-needed safeguards over the years to better ensure that Title I funds actually reached children living in poverty, cementing the federal role in education as one that protects and supports educational opportunity for disadvantaged children. In my view, this federal role is critical to providing equal educational opportunity for poor and minority children, as is the targeted assistance provided through it. The State and Local Funding Flexibility Act threatens these gains and I urge policymakers to again need the fire warnings of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's earlier report.
H.R. 2445 threatens decades of work by Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, committed educators, education advocates and other to help ensure that disadvantaged children have access to a quality education. By giving states and districts a virtual blank check, the bill would effectively turn ESEA into a block grant that removes the protections afforded to poor students. It would allow states and school districts to once again divert dollars from the students ESEA is intended to help, and, in the process, this bill will have dire consequences for the educational achievement of students across America by taking from those children who need the most.
Since the enactment of ESEA in 1965, in the spirit of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Congress has worked to ensure and protect the rights of vulnerable students. Its work is not complete. We must not turn back the clock. And we must not permit Congress to use the cloak of "flexibility" to undo decades of progress. I urge you to oppose H.R. 2445.
Sign PetitionSign PetitionI write to express my strong opposition to the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act (H.R. 2445), which was approved on a partisan vote by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. This legislation threatens to dismantle portions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that provide critical support for low-income students, English language learners, migrant children, delinquent and neglected youth and Native American students. Under the guise of providing "flexibility," H.R. 2445 invites states and school districts to rob already scarce resources from disadvantaged students, many of whom are students of color. It would trample forty-plus years of progress in the struggle for civil rights and educational equity for our nation's most vulnerable children.
[Your comments will be added here]
In 1969, four years after the enactment of the ESEA established federal aid for the education of low-income students, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and the Washington Research Project (the parent organization of the Children's Defense Fund) published Title I of ESEA: Is It Helping Poor Children? The report found that students were harmed because millions of dollar appropriated by Congress to help children in poverty were "wasted, diverted or otherwise misused by state and local school authorities." The report unquestionably demonstrated that without appropriate federal oversight, the intent of Congress to assist poor students was ignored.
As a result of such finding and other efforts, Congress added much-needed safeguards over the years to better ensure that Title I funds actually reached children living in poverty, cementing the federal role in education as one that protects and supports educational opportunity for disadvantaged children. In my view, this federal role is critical to providing equal educational opportunity for poor and minority children, as is the targeted assistance provided through it. The State and Local Funding Flexibility Act threatens these gains and I urge policymakers to again need the fire warnings of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's earlier report.
H.R. 2445 threatens decades of work by Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, committed educators, education advocates and other to help ensure that disadvantaged children have access to a quality education. By giving states and districts a virtual blank check, the bill would effectively turn ESEA into a block grant that removes the protections afforded to poor students. It would allow states and school districts to once again divert dollars from the students ESEA is intended to help, and, in the process, this bill will have dire consequences for the educational achievement of students across America by taking from those children who need the most.
Since the enactment of ESEA in 1965, in the spirit of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Congress has worked to ensure and protect the rights of vulnerable students. Its work is not complete. We must not turn back the clock. And we must not permit Congress to use the cloak of "flexibility" to undo decades of progress. I urge you to oppose H.R. 2445.
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