Brown V. Board of Education

BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, today marks the anniversary of one of the most important milestones in American history. Fifty years ago today, on May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education that separate was not equal in our schools.

This landmark ruling established the principle of equality in our laws and launched a national wave of racial integration and progress toward racial equality. We are all familiar with the laws that have been erased from the books, mandating separate and inferior facilities, services and treatment for African Americans. Americans can be proud that we have made progress against the evils of segregation. Today African Americans can live in any neighborhood they want, send their children to integrated schools, eat, drink, read, sleep, travel and enjoy recreation and entertainment in all the places every other American can.

These changes mark major progress, but the road to equality has never been quick or easy. James McClinton, the new African American mayor of Topeka, KS where the Brown case originated, was quoted recently in the Washington Post noting that the legacy of the decision is both fragile and incomplete. Just a year after the Brown decision, the Supreme Court issued another case known as Brown II, which led many school districts to drag their feet for years before integrating. We all remember when President Eisenhower had to send the military to Central High School to protect its first African American students, and the sacrifices African American students made to attend formerly all-white colleges and universities. The truth is, we still have a long way to go. Today is a day to celebrate the progress we have made, and the breakthrough Brown v. Board represented for racial and educational equality in America. But we cannot afford to just rest on our accomplishments since 1954. We must also look forward to 2054, and ask ourselves what opportunities we want our children and grandchildren to have then, and what they need us to do now to achieve those goals.

In 2004, African American students-as well as their counterparts in the Hispanic and Native American communities-are not performing as well as white students in our schools. I want to cite some statistics to paint a clear picture of what is going on in our schools. We first must wake up to the established, continuing and disturbing trend of resegregation. Studies have found that our schools have reached their peak of integration and now may be moving back to becoming resegregated. As we commemorate the Brown decision, we cannot afford to ignore this continued segregation. The National Assessment of Educational Progress found that while 74 percent of white fourth-grade students were good readers, barely half that many-39 percent of black fourth-graders earned the same designation. We have school buildings in disrepair and overcrowded classrooms, which not only makes teaching difficult, but sends minority and low-income students a powerful message that we do not value them or their education. Minority students are also much more likely to be in special or remedial education. In 1994, 31 percent of African American, 24 percent of Hispanic and 35 percent of Native American high school graduates took remedial classes, while only 15 percent of white and Asian American high school graduates did. Minority students make up 40 percent of our school-age population but just 14 percent of their teachers are minorities. According to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, white students are significantly more likely to have access to advanced academic programs than minority children and children with disabilities in the same school district, regardless of how wealthy or poor the district is. Our national high school graduation rate is an inadequate 69 percent, but when you dig deeper you learn that we are graduating barely half our minority students in this country-just 53 percent of Hispanic students, 51 percent of Native American students, and 50 percent of African American students.

It should surprise no one that if minority students don't perform well in high school, they will perform less well in college. As of 1999, white students were literally twice as likely as Hispanic and African American students to earn a Bachelor's degree. Both minority groups are underrepresented on America's college campuses. Not only is there a racial achievement gap, but that gap has actually widened in the last generation. In the 28 years from 1971 to 1999, the proportion of white high school students who earned at least a Bachelor's degree increased 13 points, to 36 percent. The proportion for African American students increased 5 points to 17 percent, and the share of Hispanic students rose 4 points to 14 percent. Imagine the larger social and economic consequences of these populations not going to or graduating from college, especially when our racial diversity is growing rapidly. We all know that you will earn a lot more money if you have a Bachelor's degree, and that American economic competitiveness in a globalizing economy depends on high-skill, high-wage jobs. We need to keep up our efforts to make sure that the color of someone's skin does not determine their opportunity to succeed.

If we are to ensure that children of color have an equal opportunity to go to college, get their degree and achieve the American dream, we must address the academic deficiencies in our high schools. Roughly half our minority students are graduating from high school, which means that nearly half are also dropping out. The No Child Left Behind Act, which I supported, requires for the first time that much of the academic achievement data we collect on our schools be separated, disaggregated, by race, students with disabilities, limited English proficiency, and students from low-income families. This step forward is critical to track achievement gaps and their trends over time. Disaggregated data is an important tool we need to target assistance and resources to reduce and eliminate racial achievement gaps. Yet currently the Department of Education is not requiring disaggregation of data on dropouts. This information is critical if we really want to reduce dropout rates and improve graduation rates for all students. I strongly urge Secretary Paige and the Department of Education to report disaggregation of dropout data.

We also know from numerous studies that the gaps between test scores of low-income and middle-income students could be eliminated if all students had highly qualified teachers. If fully funded, the No Child Left Behind Act would put highly qualified teachers in all our classrooms, but, unfortunately, an amendment I offered on the budget resolution earlier this year to fully fund the Act, failed on a party-line vote. But even when No Child Left Behind is fully funded, as I hope it is next year, our work will still not be done with regards to our high schools.

That is why last summer I introduced S.1554, the Pathways for All Students to Succeed-PASS, Act. The PASS Act seeks to eliminate dropout, achievement and graduation gaps among our high school students. The PASS Act does three things.
First, it will help students learn to read and write by providing $1 billion to help schools hire literacy coaches. Second, my bill ensures students are taking the classes and getting the support they need to finish school. It provides $2 billion for academic and career counselors to ensure students have a personalized plan for completing high school and going on to college. Finally, my bill provides extra help to schools that need it most. It provides $500 million in grants to help improve low-performing schools improve. I hope that the Senate will pass this bill this year.

The Brown v. Board decision was a momentous achievement for our Nation, and I am honored to mark its 50th anniversary today. At the same time, we must take the momentum of this celebration to fulfill the promise of Brown by ensuring that all our children have access to the highest quality education worthy of our great Nation.