By John Ubaldi, “Ubaldi Reports”
With all the attention placed on the 2024 presidential election, a consequential and pivotal historical landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision passed without much fanfare; the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954, which ended racial segregation.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was unanimously decided by the U.S. Supreme Court which ended racial segregation and overruled the Court’s 1896 decision, Plessy v. Ferguson that ruled racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution with regard to race, as long as facilities were made equal in quality.
This long-established doctrine was known as “separate but equal” which the Court over-turned paved the way for integration of the nation’s school system across the country. This major landmark decision was a massive victory for the ongoing civil rights movement and for civil rights in America.
Last month, was the 70th anniversary of one of the most pivotal and important U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the nation’s history, so why no mention of this landmark Court ruling?
Could it be that if we look at the state of black education in America, you would be appalled that over 80% of African-American children can’t read nor do math to grade level. This is worse than in the “Jim Crow” era of American history!
Th United States allocates over $800 billion a year per the U.S. Census Bureau, which is one of the highest in the industrial world that 80% of African-American children can’t do math nor read to grade level?
Where is The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on this topic? Looking at their website, nothing is stated or mentioned about education.
The NAACP which is centered in Baltimore, has the leadership ventured out or walked around the city of Baltimore and looked at how black children are being educated in the city today?
If they did they would be appalled at the dismal educational level of black children!
At the state level the situation is even more dire, with the Maryland Department of Education releasing a report that should outrage anyone who cares about public education! The report showed that 23 schools in the city of Baltimore had zero students who tested proficient in math. The schools in question included 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three Middle/High schools and two Elementary/Middle schools. In the report Maryland found that 2,000 students who took the state test could not do math at grade level.
What was not added in the report was an additional 20 schools had only one student who could pass the math proficiency at grade level.
Additional data shows that 41 percent of students in the Baltimore school system have a 1.0 (D) GPA or less, this is coming from a Baltimore city school district where 75% of the students are black.
My question, where is Black Lives Matter, all the civil rights leaders, the professional athletes, where are Democratic elected representatives, and President’s Biden, Clinton, Obama. They always claim Black Lives Matter and routinely state America is systemically racist but have been eerily silent on the dismal academic achievement of children of color.
These elected leaders will always point that what the nation needs to do is allocate more resources to public schools, but many of the top spending public school districts in the country have the worst performing school districts. New York topped the per capita spending at $24,040 per child, with the nation’s capital of Washington, D.C. at close to $23,000. The city of Baltimore placed in the top three for per pupil spending at close to $22,000 and this is the results they get.
If this wasn’t bad enough, Baltimore Superintendent of Public Education Dr. Sonja Santelises, received a raise with a total compensation package of over $444,000, what was the metric for this considering the deplorable educational standards for the city’s children; with the vast amount impacting children of color?
What metric was used in Santelises for receiving a raise? Where was the state of Maryland in educational oversight, as this couldn’t have been a singular aberration, but something that was years in the making.
Presidents Biden, Obama, Clinton, and many Democrats either send their children to private schools or attended ones themselves but then deny choice to parents, but especially preventing parents of black and Hispanic children from sending their children to better performing school’s; why?
Even California Governor Gavin Newsom who shut his state schools down because of the coronavirus, forcing six million children to learn at home, but his kids were able to attend a private school with in-person learning. I guess one standard for his children but a far different standard for yours!
Could it be they want to keep the money following to the national teacher unions which oppose any school choice for parents who according to OpenSecrets gave about 99% of all donations during the 2021-22 election cycle to Democrats.
Now the continued failure of the nation’s public-school system is not only confined to just Baltimore, but is a crisis found across the nation.
Just examine Illinois, where 53 high schools not one student are proficient at grade level in math, and in 30 school’s not one student is proficient in reading at grade level. Many of these students are children of color.
Right now the Chicago Teacher’s Union is in contract negotiations with the city for a hefty pay raise and other items to be include which have nothing to do education.
Over the past few years, CPS test scores have plummeted. According to U.S. News & World Report, “In Chicago Public Schools, 16% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 12% tested at or above that level for math. Also, 16% of middle school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 12% tested at or above that level for math. And 14% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 14% tested at or above that level for math.”
In the fall of 2022 the Los Angeles Times obtained a report from the Los Angeles Unified School District that was marked “not for public viewing,” which showed that “About 81% of 11th-graders did not meet grade-level standards in math. About 83% of Black students, 78% of Latino students and 77% of economically disadvantaged students did not meet the math standards,” the Times reported.
If you go north, Oregon is another state where the student achievement gap in reading, writing and math skills have plummeted from the government induced pandemic lockdown that caused extreme disruptions to k-12 education; this was on top of the dismal achievement before the lockdowns, as reported by the Oregon Department of Education.
The Oregonian reported that across grades three through eight, just 39% of students scored as proficient at reading and writing last spring, down from the previous low of 51%, and just 28% scored proficient in math, far below the previous low point of 40%. Even before the forced shut-down of the nation’s schools, the educational achievement gap for American children was disastrous with over 70% of black and Hispanic students suffering the most with the inability to do math or English to grade level.
This same state, recently passed a legislation that removes a requirement to be proficient in math, reading and writing to be eligible to graduate high school, the reason it was deemed racist and detrimental to blacks and Hispanics.
How about reforming Oregon’s K-12 system with tougher and more rigorous standards?
The dismal drop in math and English also is compounded by a report that shows that High school students’ ACT college admission test scores fell to a three-decade low in 2022, which continues for a fifth straight year as educators struggle with ongoing learning loss made worse by remote classes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Just examine the state of California Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to eliminate using standardized tests like the SAT and ACT for admission to its 23 state university campuses because it discriminates against people of color.
This coming from a state that has 70% of black and Hispanic children unable to do math or English to grade level, the policies they push are having a detrimental impact on children of color.
Where is the accountability from the U.S. Department of Education with an annual budget of $260 billion and is slated to receive additional revenue in President Biden’s fderal budget, but how will this be spent and what will be the measure of success?
During the pandemic schools across America received close to $200 billion which was allocated for K-12, but little accountability on how that revenue would ever be spent.
Despite the dismal achievement numbers of the nation’s children, especially low income and minority students, Democrats and their allies in the nation’s teacher’s union complain more revenue is needed, and blame the coronavirus for the dismal numbers.
Former North Carolina Democratic Governor Beverly Perdue, who chairs the board responsible for the NAEP, warned, “We can’t keep blaming COVID.” Unfortunately, many still do, and these same individuals are never held to account for the dismal educational achievement gaps.
Just examine our nation’s capital in the DC public school system which has a student achievement gap for black and Hispanic students around where 80% who are not proficient in math or English, despite a per pupil public spending of $22,800 one of the highest in the nation, and this has only gone higher.
I could go across the country and show in every instance how children of color are falling further behind, but the real question is why hasn’t Black Lives Matter, all the civil rights leaders, the professional athletes, where are Democratic elected representatives, and President’s Biden, Clinton, Obama been asked after the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education why after 70 years black children do far worse now then in the “Jim Crow” era of American history?
Why no mention of this landmark U.S. Supreme Court Ruling?
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.