Neo-Reconstruction: Education
Education Spending
Many of our hearts are being called to a new level of commitment in the fight against racial injustice. As a nation and as individuals, it’s not always easy to know how to invest in the change we long to see. One of the most impactful ways to make a difference is to address the inequities in education. For example, predominantly white public school districts (K-12) receive $23 Billion more funding than school districts that are predominantly non-white, according to EdBuild. Even when adjusted for income levels, white students receive roughly $1,500 more per year than non-white students. Black students face more challenges in the U.S. public education system and higher education. Innovative policy change, financing, and equal access to quality learning and leadership development opportunities are necessary to increase the level of racial equity in our country and achieve greatness.
Race Based Spending
According to the real estate app Redfin, African American Due to the spending differentials, African American students receive a lower value education even in 2020. Educational spending was the key metric used to argue the pivotal Brown Vs Board of Education case.
Education Metrics
Increased educational opportunities and empowered institutions are musts if African Americans are to approach anything resembling racial equality. Historically Black Colleges and Universities fit both the educational and institutional criteria so strengthening these schools should be foremost in any Neo-Reconstruction plan. HBCUs, however, are woefully underfunded and any sincere attempt to improve Black America’s post-secondary educational opportunities must include bolstering their financial outlooks. For instance, the total endowment of all 102 HBCUs combined is $2.1 billion. That’s slightly more than 5% of the approximately $40 billion endowment of Harvard University alone. In fact, 54 predominantly white institutions (PWIs), many if not most of which profited greatly from slavery, have endowments of $2 billion or more. Considering their drab financial plight, HBCUs have done an admirable job of educating African-American students. While making up only three percent of the nation’s schools and educating 10 percent of black college students, they have produced nearly 20 percent of black college graduates, including 50 percent of black doctors.
Like black institutions, black students often find themselves in financial peril, as 65 percent of African American college students are independent, meaning they must balance pursuing a degree with full-time work and family responsibilities, according to the United Negro College Fund. This challenging juggling act is a major factor in the low retention rate of African American students, only 45.9 percent of whom graduate within six years, the lowest rate among any demographic in the country. Another factor? The sad reality that just 57 percent of black students have access to all of the math and science courses necessary to prepare them for college, compared to 81 percent of Asian Americans and 71 percent of white students.
No matter how you slice it, from kindergarten to college, African Americans, often already battling economic hardships, fight an uphill battle when it comes to getting the quality education needed to compete in the American mainstream.
Prospective Education Proposals
Achieve Equal Per-Student Public School Funding based on state general tax revenues rather than local property tax revenues
- Americans are committed to the welfare of children and the ideal of equal opportunity creating a level playing field for all students but many are unaware that inequities exist in public school funding across our country
- Funding differences from state-to-state and intrastate vary widely because much of the financial support for public schools comes from local property taxes, which means the amount of funding that communities are able to provide for their schools varies according to community affluence
- Although most people in the United States are not aware of it, other advanced nations do not fund public schools with local property taxes. Instead, they provide equal per-student funding from general tax revenues for all schools throughout the country. Some nations also provide extra funding for disadvantaged students
- Adequate and equitable resources are important to the future success and development of black students. Far too often, black students—males in particular—are unnecessarily placed in special education classes, while the number of black students who take honors and advanced courses remains significantly below that of other groups.
Freedom Grants
- Findings suggest that racial diversity matters for learning, the core purpose of a university. Increasing diversity is not only a way to let the historically disadvantaged into college, but also to promote sharper thinking for everyone
- American colleges and universities contribute at least 1 percent of their total endowment market value (~$6-10 billion) to fund this.
Guaranteed Set-Asides
Leverage Guaranteed Set-Asides from the National Lotteries specifically designated for HBCUs and predominantly black colleges and universities, scholarship programs for African-American students, and a special 529 college savings seed and/ or matching funds plan for U.S. African-American families.
- Lotteries were used not only as a form of entertainment but as a source of revenue to help fund the colonies. Each of the 13 original colonies established a lottery system to raise revenue
- Two major lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball, are both offered in nearly all jurisdictions that operate lotteries and serve as de facto national lotteries
- Mandate using the set-aside proceeds for black communities educational empowerment initiatives/programs as opposed to the current system where most state legislatures use the lottery money to pay for a portion of the state public education budgets and spend the money that would have been used had there been no lottery cash on other things
- All colleges and universities with an endowment above $1 billion that benefitted from slavery must give a government- mandated percentage of their endowment to HBCUs.
Institute S.P.U.R.S.
Create Freedom Grants to provide African American students the freedom to pursue undergraduate and/or graduate education for zero out-of-pocket tuitionLeverage Guaranteed Set-Asides from the National Lotteries specifically designated for HBCUs and predominantly black colleges and universities, scholarship programs for African-American students, and a special 529 college savings seed and/ or matching funds plan for U.S. African-American familiesInstitute S.P.U.R.S. (Summer Program for Under-represented Students) initiative at major colleges and universities primarily in the STEM/STEAM disciplines for under-represented students from predominantly minority communities. Often during summer periods, disadvantaged students fall behind their wealthier peers.
- Many first-generation college students come from socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In order for these students to succeed and for society to benefit, it is crucial that we provide the means for these students to gain access to the same careers as their white counterparts
- This program will play a pivotal role in advancing education for underrepresented and economically disadvantaged African American students. Additionally, SPURS will create diversity of representation among the future ranks of doctors, investigative scientists, technologists, and design experts
- Funded by the Federal Department of Education as renewable grants.
Institute The Black History 365 Curriculum
According to studies, there is a direct correlation between students' self awaren- ess and exposure to positive imagery of like groups and their academic achievement.
- We should adopt this existing program into our school curriculum on a national level.
