Reframing the Equity Debate in the US Education System

This paper is driven by the research questions: Why do racial and economic inequities persist in the US educational system? What should be done to address these inequities? It is clear that current education reforms have not adequately addressed the root causes of inequality. There are reforms within the field of education that are worth exploring, and transformative public policy in other areas of society is also needed to produce meaningful change for BIPOC students and students in poverty. Chapter 1 is a historiography of the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Scholars largely agree that gaps between white and African-American students exist in schools. They are less unanimous on Brown v. Board’s impact on racial justice as a whole. While some historians celebrate the case as a milestone in the country’s path towards equality, there is a growing chorus who believe Brown v. Board was limited in its impact. Chapter 2 focuses on who supports charter schools on the state level and which stakeholders are included in any successes. It examines two states known for their significant numbers of charter schools: Louisiana (with an emphasis on New Orleans) and Arizona. In both states, charter school construction was fueled by Republicans in state legislatures, despite the guise of bipartisan support. During their initial development, there was modest support for charter schools from African-Americans in New Orleans and significant support from Latinx people in Arizona. However, these schools have not provided significantly better outcomes for BIPOC students. Chapter 3 examines school funding for traditional public schools. The first part of the chapter features the case study of New York. Several recent studies suggest increased school funding has made a significant difference in graduation rates and standardized test scores for NYC students. Despite this, there are still significant gaps in student outcomes for BIPOC students and students in poverty, especially in New York City. The second part of this chapter explores mass incarceration’s role on student outcomes, both in New York and nationally. This provides support for why funding should be reallocated from the criminal justice system to schools