EDITORIAL:
State Education Advocacy More Important than Ever as
US Supreme Court Slams Door on Integration

Thirty-five years ago, civil rights attorneys realized that – despite the gains of Brown v. Board of Education – many low-income and minority kids went to schools that didn’t have the basic resources kids need to get a good education. Along with parents and other education advocates pressuring state legislators, these attorneys have been fighting in state courts for good schools for minority kids ever since.

Thankfully, they are still fighting, because the US Supreme Court’s Seattle/Louisville decision makes these state-level efforts, which were always critical, even more important. Some state efforts have achieved major successes, but the opponents of integration are now also fighting against the state advocates.

Move School Buildings

The sound of the federal courthouse door slamming shut on minority kids’ rights to equal education was heard yesterday in Washington, DC, as the US Supreme Court said the way to end racial discrimination is to end discrimination against whites. Ignoring the overwhelming social science evidence on achievement gains and other benefits from integration, the realities of current discrimination against children of color, and the historical roots of the 14th amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, the court claimed that the US Constitution is offended by racial integration plans that consider a student’s race to achieve integration.

Unless, as Justice Kennedy said, an acceptable “means” can be found for the integration goal. His suggestion? Move school buildings to the borders between segregated communities to somehow induce integration that way!

State Successes

Fortunately, advocates can still work to improve schools in the face of this opposition to integration. Some state advocates have managed major victories and better schools for low-income and minority kids by focusing on getting much-needed resources for their schools. In Massachusetts and New Jersey, two of our highest performing states, the public schools with the greatest challenges get significant resources to help their students. Funds are being used for preschool, early literacy, English learners, teacher professional development, and other programs essential to give poor kids a fair chance at the American Dream. Graduation rates and test scores are strongest in these states.

In New York, new, fairer funding enacted in 2007 is scheduled to deliver $7 billion more in annual statewide funding over the next four years, plus over $11 billion in facilities funding, and it requires “Contracts for Excellence” to make sure the money is well spent. This progress results from a 14-year struggle to get the legislature and governor to do the right thing. Kids are also getting better educations in Kentucky, Vermont, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, and elsewhere due to hard-won victories by education advocates. Advocates continue these crucial efforts in many more states, including close-the-achievement-gap initiatives in Mississippi, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Maryland.

Who Opposes Opportunity for Kids?

The same attorneys who fought against integration for decades, such as the Sutherland Asbill law firm and a partner there, Al Lindseth, are also leading the resistance against the state-level advocates. They lost in New York while making such specious arguments as an eighth-grade education is enough for New York City’s 83 percent minority kids. They are now hard at work in Georgia, helping the state try to fend off another important case seeking good schools for low-income and minority kids. What do these folks say is needed instead of integration or adequate schools? Vouchers.

Shot Heard ‘Round the World?

Ironically, US advocates may receive assistance in their struggle against race discrimination in education from the global human rights community. The US ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), and US actions are being reviewed by a UN committee. Unequal access to education is a key part of that review. Some think that the review team has lots of evidence against us and could add this Court decision to the list. In addition, last July the UN Human Rights Committee criticized the US for the state of “de facto racial segregation in public schools.”

Here at home, advocates are considering mounting a movement for an education rights amendment to the US Constitution, and the Seattle decision may add fuel to that potential fire. One note of optimism is being sounded, as about 40 school districts are successfully using economic integration to improve education opportunities for low-income and minority kids.

For additional reactions, see Louisville Courier-Journal Editorial, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and MALDEF.

This editorial by Molly A. Hunter, Managing Director, National Access Network, is part of our continuing opinion series