More Than 2,000 Students, Parents, Teachers, Civil Rights and Education Leaders Participated in Rally to Advocate for an Alternative Solution to the Governor’s proposed “Equity Multiplier” that Misses the Mark with Lowest Performing Students.
More than 2,000 Black students, parents, teachers and education and civil rights leaders marched today at the California State Capitol to give a voice to Black students who have been left behind in Governor Newsom’s “Equity Multiplier” budget proposal, which falls short in narrowing the academic gap between Black students and other groups on state achievement tests. The event was sponsored by the Black in School Coalition which includes 17 organizations such as A Black Education Network, African American Community Empowerment Council, Alpha Community Education Initiative, Empowerment Council, Black American Political Association of CA- San Diego, Black Students of California United, Blu Education Foundation, Center for Powerful Public Schools, Children Now, Education Trust-West, Elite Public Schools, Fortune School of Education, NAACP San Bernardino, National Action Network-Sacramento, National Action Network- Western Region, National Coalition of 100 Black Women Sacramento, and She Power.
“California should be setting an example throughout the nation by opening doors of opportunity for all students and eliminating the barriers that too often keep students of color, particularly Black students, from pursuing their dreams for a better life,” said Brian Rivas with Education Trust-West. “When it comes to supporting Black students in California, Governor Newsom must not just support the lowest performing students in rhetoric, but in action, which in this case means funding to close the achievement gap.”
The morning of the rally, members of the Black in School Coalition and students provided public comment at the State Legislature’s budget committee hearing in support of their alternative budget proposal for more robust funding, citing the deficiencies in the Governor’s current proposal. A recent EdSource analysis of the Governor’s education budget estimates:
• Funding from Newsom’s alternative would target 5% of students in the state. The students reached would be mostly Latino, while including about 6% of Black students statewide.
• California Black students are below every other racial or ethnic group in classroom performance, ranking drastically below white students who scored 61.4% in English language arts and 48.2% in math.
• In 2021-22, only 30.3% of California Black students met English language arts standards and 15.9% met the math standard.
• California’s Black students are also behind low-income students as a whole: 35.2% of this group met English language arts standards and 21.2% met the standard in math.
“We must finally address the chronic achievement gap for Black students, the lowest-performing subgroup, with 70% not meeting English language arts standards and 84% not meeting math standards,” added Christina Laster, National Action Network – Western Region. “The Governor’s current proposal targets low-income schools, not the lowest-performing students. There is a difference. Low-income students already receive supplemental and concentration grants under the Local Control Funding Formula. There are 81,000 Black students, the lowest-performing subgroup, who will still go unfunded because they are not low-income.”
Event speakers included student speakers Hannan Canada and Tinsae Berhanu of Black Students of California United, and parent speaker Yolande Beckles of the National Association of African American Parents and Youth (NAAAPY). Performances included a spoken word reading from Mariano Sikes of Elite Public Schools and musical performances by the Fortune School Drumline and Alan Rowe College Prep Choir.
For more information visit, www.blackinschool.org.
Photo source: Vanassa Hamra