Public Schools and Schools

Lifting Up Our Children Through Public Schools

How to Lift Up Future Generations

Renee Moore, a teacher in a very poor Mississippi Delta school, is quoted in Tim Walker's article as saying if we truly agree that education is the way out of poverty, " . . . then we need to stop making the schools that serve the poorer children the most impoverished schools" (Walker 2013). Moore has a valid point, made even more urgent by the fact that more than half of the students in American public schools " . . . come from low-income families" (Rich 2015). Indeed the majority of students in "21 states are poor," Rich writes in The New York Times.

Hence, this paper proposes working with the federal government, with states, and with private sector corporations to properly fund all public schools, in particular those that serve towns and cities steeped in abject poverty. It's outrageous that so many of America's children are being robbed of the chance to succeed in life due to the criminally inadequate schools that dot the landscape. This is not a new problem. But it's been festering for years and demands attention.

This paper proposes to follow the constructive guidelines proposed by the Equity and Excellence Commission in its in-depth report, "For Each and Every Child." The future is dim and the data is bleak when we examine how far below the rest of the advance nations of the world our students are performing. The U.S. currently ranks #27 in math knowledge; only 65% of four-year-olds have an opportunity to attend preschool; and two-thirds of 8th graders in the U.S. cannot achieve even "mere proficiency" in science, according to the report.

Incidentally, this 52-page report was commissioned by former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who showed positive leadership during his tenure. Can we expect the same degree of commitment to funding our poorer schools from the new Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos? That is a valid question because DeVos is a billionaire business woman (with no university background in educational matters) whose generous contributions to charter schools (in particular, Christian charter schools) and her indifference to funding public schools comes out clearly in her biographical materials.

She has recently funded private Christian schools to the tune of $8.6 million; she has given $5.2 million to charter schools; and she has given just $59,750 to public schools as part of her philanthropic activities (Rizga 2017). Again, can the teachers, students, and families associated with public schools in America trust that DeVos will reach out and help bring decent educational facilities to the low-income communities of America? It's troubling that she plagiarized her U.S. Senate questionnaire before appearing before Congress. She said, "Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment where they can learn, thrive, and grow" (lifted word-for-word from an official report presented by the Obama Administration) (Jung 2017).