Yesterday Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders came to with his 10-point education plan. Recalling the civil rights lawyer who successfully argued before the Supreme Court that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional under the XIV Amendment and later went on to become the first Black justice, the “Thurgood Marshall Plan for Public Education” aims to “combat racial discrimination and school segregation.”
Sixty-five years after the landmark Brown v. Board, our nation’s schools are more segregated than ever, and Black students are four times as likely to be suspended as whites, even for the same infraction.
Bernie’s plan calls for tripling the Title I budget, which our current education secretary wants to eliminate in favor of her school voucher scam, and funding teacher training programs at historically black colleges and universities. Studies show that students of color with at least one teacher of color are more likely to attend and graduate college. Currently seven percent of public school teachers are Black.
The plan also calls for a ban on corporate charter schools — echoing the NAACP’s three year-old moratorium — until a national audit can determine the extent of the well-documented waste, fraud, and abuse rampant in the industry.
“We do not need two school systems; we need to invest in our public schools system.”
“Thurgood Marshall said that all children have a right ‘to an equal opportunity to reach their full potential as citizens.’
“In my view, the only way to accomplish that goal is to guarantee every person in our country a quality education as a fundamental human right.” https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/sta...
Unlike former Vice President Joe Biden, who as a young senator was opposed to busing and desegregation, Bernie would allow local school districts to use federal money for busing and increase funding for desegregation programs.
The charter school ban is expected to cause a rift in the Democratic party, as other presidential hopefuls Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker both have extensive ties to charter school industry. Kamala Harris has also taken contributions from education profiteers.
Apparently some Democrats don’t mind corporations stealing assets from poor and minority communities, as long as there’s a buck in it for the donors.
Critics who say it’s too bold a plan should remember it’s the same thing they said about “Bernie’s Medicare for All” plan just a couple of years ago. Now six Democratic frontrunners are on board.
Bernie calls for charter school moratorium - YouTube