The promises made during the campaign drew support from public education
advocates across the nation. With those promises in mind, we hope they
keep the following five K-12 priorities at the forefront as they
govern.
Rebuild our nation’s public schools, which have battered by the
pandemic, two decades of failed federal policy, and years of financial
neglect.
With state revenues declining, the federal government will have to
provide the needed funds to protect the health of students and staff to
safely re-open schools. That means funding to enable educators to catch
students up academically and meet the social and emotional needs of
students, many of whom will be traumatized by their experiences during the
pandemic. The financial support dedicated to these efforts must provide
flexibility for schools to decide how that money is best
spent.
That is where we begin, but it should not be where we end. The new
Administration must keep its promise to dramatically increase funding to
eliminate the funding gaps between white and non-white districts and
well-funded and poor districts. And it must meet its pledge to fully fund
IDEA during the next decade.
Reject efforts to privatize public schools, whether those efforts be
via vouchers or charter schools.
Neighborhood public schools governed by their communities are essential
to the health of our democracy and the well-being of children. We need a
public education champion in the Department of Education who rejects
efforts to privatize public schools, whether those efforts be via vouchers
or charter schools. Retreads like Arne Duncan and John King are not
acceptable.
With so to be done to rebuild our public schools when COVID subsides, our
country cannot afford to subsidize private school tuition. The Biden
Administration must oppose any Congressional attempts to institute tax
credit programs designed to subsidize private and religious school
tuition.
The Administration must keep its promise to make charter schools subject
to the same transparency, accountability, and equity policies as public
schools. It must fulfill its campaign promise of no federal assistance to
charters that operate for profit or are managed by for-profit entities.
The new Secretary, we hope, will institute a moratorium on new grants from
the federal Charter Schools Program at least until those promised reforms
are enacted.
End the era of high-stakes standardized testing–in both the immediate
future and beyond.
After two decades of school accountability measures based on high-stakes
testing, it is clear that these policies are ineffective levers for
improving schools. The use of test results to evaluate teachers and put
sanctions on schools has correlated with a decline in student performance
on NAEP tests, which are independent audits of student performance. The
rapid and ill-advised implementation of the Common Core and its tests
furthered that decline. This Administration must focus on opportunity
gaps, not test score gaps.
Promote diversity, desegregation (both among and within schools), and
commit to eliminating institutional racism in school policy and
practices.
It is imperative that the new Administration promote diversity,
desegregation (both among and within schools) and commit to eliminating
institutional racism in school policy and practices. Diverse public
schools break down social barriers, improve academic performance, and
increase tolerance. As promised, President Biden must reinstate the
Department of Education guidance in legally pursuing desegregation
strategies and provide the promised grants to districts to diversify their
schools. The new Administration must continue the Obama Administration’s
work in identifying and reducing racial disparities in school suspensions
and expulsions.
Promote educational practices that are child-centered, inquiry-based,
intellectually challenging, culturally responsive, and respectful of all
students’ innate capacities and potential to thrive.
The Secretary must reject the overemphasis on basic skills coupled with
teach-to-the test pedagogy. As important as literacy and numeracy are,
there must be space for the arts, civics, history, second languages, and
science–all of which have been sorely neglected since NCLB. Children,
especially our youngest learners, deserve active learning experiences that
enhance their social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development. It is
not enough to simply expand pre-school. The President must ensure that all
pre-schools follow the research practices that benefit the whole
child.
We stand ready, willing and able to support and heal public education.
Let us now join together for a better future for our nation’s public
schools and the children they serve.
With hope, Carol Burris
Executive Director of the Network for Public Education
Action.
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