Creative Commons
If we go back to the status quo without working to remedy racial and economic imbalances, students in Baltimore and Philadelphia will be stuck with freezing classrooms in winter and suffocating ones in the summer and fall. Under “normal” conditions, the proportion of Black students facing out-of-school suspensions is four times that of their white peers. In half of majority-Black high schools, opportunities to study advanced math and science subjects are limited when compared to their majority-white counterparts.
Our network of grassroots organizations are demanding 25,000 community schools by 2025 in the neighborhoods most impacted by COVID-19, racism, disinvestment, and poverty.
And in these schools, despite being in the majority, students of color are unlikely to see themselves accurately reflected in teachers or lessons. It is likely, however, that they’ll be surveilled by “school resource officers,” as fourteen million students go to schools with a police presence but lack a counselor, nurse, psychologist, or social worker.
We also know that education equity neither begins nor ends at the schoolhouse door. So when Journey for Justice Alliance (J4J), the coalition of community-based organizations with which we organize, gathered thousands nationwide in a virtual Equity or Else rally from May 17 to 18, we called for a complete revolution in the quality of life for low-income and marginalized communities. Linked to that promise were demands for justice in housing, environment, youth rights, economic development, community safety, health care, and ending food apartheid.
Achieving this vision will take a holistic approach. In education, that means developing more sustainable community schools. These schools are guided by a diverse staff, committed to culturally responsive and affirming learning, and overflowing with challenging courses and wraparound services to develop the strengths and meet the needs of each child.
Our network of grassroots organizations are demanding 25,000 community schools by 2025 in the neighborhoods most impacted by COVID-19, racism, disinvestment, and poverty. This would more than double the nearly 10,000 schools currently working toward that model.
With hundreds of grassroots voices answering our surveys starting last fall and joining listening projects that will run until next spring, J4J is crafting a truly collaborative platform. We will be addressing local and federal officials in a speech at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in September 2022.
What we’ve heard from respondents so far offers a vision for transforming our most neglected schools. They’re calling for increased funding for students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and students struggling academically, as well as for schools serving large homeless and foster populations. They also want smaller class sizes, higher pay for teachers, and culturally responsive curriculum and training.
We are encouraged by President Joe Biden’s commitment to triple funding for Title I support, and the administration’s proposed budget that doubles the current funding levels for our neediest students. We are also hopeful that Congress will adopt the administration’s proposed framework where new funds will be allocated to encourage states and districts to target their spending more fairly.
Finally, we hope Congress will require every state to form the equity commissions currently proposed as optional in the budget. Models including Maryland’s Kirwan Commission have inspired legislation promising to equip every school serving impoverished students with the enhanced staffing, services, and learning supports to become a community school.
Rather than return to an inequitable status quo, we need to push for full funding for schools. We need the innovation and determination we witness from our communities daily. We are confident that these communities, charged with investing new dollars to increase fairness, have the power and vision to catalyze urgently needed change.