DEI Makes America Strong
Public education in America strives to ensure that every student has the right to a high-quality education in an environment that helps them thrive. But it’s not only students and their families who benefit from excellent public schools--everyone benefits from investment in public education.
Lately, we’ve been hearing radical proposals from right-wing politicians to change or eliminate federal funding for public schools. As one local school board member writes, the U.S. Department of Education (DoE) is a “bureaucratic monster” that controls “too much of our children’s education.” He wants to dismantle the DoE. The extremist GOP governor candidate has said “we don’t want” federal education funds in North Carolina. “They have no business telling a state how to operate the education system.”
Do these GOP leaders understand that the US federal government, the largest single employer in America, recruits its workforce from every US state and territory? Do they understand that our military – a vital arm of the federal government – recruits from every US state and territory? The quality of education in every state is a core and vital interest of the federal government. Our global competitiveness and national security depend upon it.
Public education is predominantly controlled by states and local school boards. One area that federal money does support are programs designed to uphold laws pertaining to civil rights, disability and anti-poverty legislation. Why would the party that once claimed the mantle of “law and order” reject funding to enforce these United States statutes?
Under the broad heading of DEI, Republican extremists have fashioned a DEI boogeyman.
What is it about DEI that so frightens the radical right?
The first letter is “D,” for Diversity. Diversity encourages children and young adults to learn to get along with other human beings. When they enter the workforce, their environment – be it business, government service or non-profit organizations – will reach around the world. Today's students need to understand and communicate with people not exactly like themselves to be successful in the future.
Next comes “E,” for Equity, which goes hand in hand with diversity. Equity simply means fairness, the promise that every student, every American, should be able to compete on a level playing field. It recognizes President Kennedy’s vision, that “everyone should have equal opportunity for education.”
Finally, “I,” for Inclusion, means we don’t shut out children who have special needs, or leave their parents to search for learning solutions by themselves. Schools in our public school district provide specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parent, to meet the unique needs of young people who need special education services. Federal funds underwrite these costs.
Inclusion also means children and youth of all colors, shapes, abilities and origins, who speak different languages at home, who arrive in wheelchairs or hungry or with holes in their shoes, belong in the same school, with their learning supported. Inclusion fosters what Helen Keller called “the highest result of education: tolerance.”
If the Republican candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction says, “We don’t need your money,” meaning federal funding, how would this impact our schools?
All Transylvania County elementary schools receive Title I funds; through the DoE, financial assistance comes to school districts for children from low-income families with supplement reading and mathematics instruction. Across the state, each student from a low-income family benefits from approximately $2,220 of federal funding. In Transylvania County, 21% of our kids live in poverty.
What are the results? Our public county schools match the state average for math and reading performance and score above the state average for English learner proficiency.
Money from Washington ensures that every student, every day, at every school, gets a free breakfast and lunch. Our students can focus on lessons instead of grumbling stomachs.
Federal funds total about $4.4 million in Transylvania County Schools. That’s 9% of the operating budget. Losing that would eliminate 28 teaching staff and leave our school system scrambling to comply with all federal civil rights and disability laws.
There is an agency attempting to control and redirect public education - it is the North Carolina General Assembly. It’s clear that the goal of the Republican supermajority at the statehouse is to dismantle traditional public schools and privatize our educational system.
Our State Senator Kevin Corbin and State Representative Mike Clampitt both voted just last week for the passage of the Opportunity Scholarship program. This would unlock millions in funds for tens of thousands of students to attend private schools. At the same time public schools will lose nearly $100 million.
The most daunting challenge, however, is that the far right has forgotten the vital role our public schools play in promoting prosperity and preserving our cherished freedoms. Our State Constitution guarantees that every child receives a basic education. We must never break this promise.
Resources
https://reeducationofamerica.substack.com/p/an-option-a-plan-to-dismantle-the
https://ncreports.ondemand.sas.com/src/district?district=880LEA&year=2023
https://www.osbm.nc.gov/opportunity-scholarships-2024-analysis/open