Civil and Human Rights Coalition Applauds Release of Equity and Excellence Report on Education

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

Washington, D.C. – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on today’s release of the Equity and Excellence Commission  report on education, “For Each and Every Child: A Strategy for Education Equity and Excellence”:

“We applaud the release today of the Equity and Excellence Commission’s report. This report confirms what those of us in the civil and human rights community have long known: that our nation’s system of financing and delivering public education is badly broken and in need of a dramatic overhaul. Millions of children – and especially children of color, those from low-income families, and those learning English – attend schools under conditions that equate more to a developing nation than to the world’s largest democracy.

We are particularly encouraged by the commission’s focus on fiscal inequity and the gross underfunding of the schools to which our students with the greatest needs are consigned. The report rightly points out that thousands of state and locally-based school finance systems are inefficient, nonsensical, and deny any real opportunity for students living in poverty to achieve academic success. The national failure to fully invest in all our public school students limits the extent to which these professionals can effect positive change.  

 Federal and state governments must come together with communities to enact an education equity agenda for real and lasting change. However, nobody should underestimate the difficulty of the road ahead. I am committed to ensuring that this report becomes a living agenda for change and not just another education report on our bookshelves.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.