2009 Public Education Resource

Below I have copied the information from the UCC about Public Education. The "No Child Left Behind Act" is up for re authorization. Since congress did not act on it in 2008 it will be left for the new congress under a new administration to act on it. Since I strongly beleive in quality public education for all children I think we should all seriously consider this. By have a world standard education for all students we will be able to grow our own well educated work force and not have to import them.

Public Education

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Matthew 22: 35-39

As we think about whether American society embodies Jesus' teaching that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, we need to be concerned about public schools, the primary institution where we have agreed to nurture and shape God's precious children. Public schools are our largest public institution, serving nearly fifty million children.

In the national conversation about public education, our role in the church is special. We are concerned about our schools as an ethical and public policy matter. How do they embody attitudes about race and poverty, power and privilege, and cultural dominance and marginalization, and how do disparities in public investment reflect these attitudes?

The United Church of Christ has spoken prophetically to name poverty and racism as among the primary causes of injustice in our nation's schools. General Synod 15 warned: "While children from many areas have comfortable schools with all the educational trimmings, poor and ethnic minority children often face overcrowded and deteriorated facilities, and a lack of enrichment programs or modern technology." General Synod 18 cautioned: "Because the poor and their children are disproportionately people of color, the educational inequities in our public schools reinforce the racial/ethnic injustices of our society." General Synod 23 proclaimed public school support - and advocacy for the same - as one of the "foremost civil rights issues in the twenty-first century." General Synod 25 called all settings of the UCC to do justice and promote the common good by strengthening support for public institutions and providing "opportunity for every child in well-funded, high quality public schools."

Featured Resource for October 2008

Justice and Witness Ministries' annual beginning-of-school resource, the 2009 Message on Public Education, lifts up the importance of schools to form each whole child, created in the image of God, in contrast to the test-and-punish philosophy of the federal education law, No Child Left Behind, that has dangerously narrowed the curriculum in schools serving America's poorest children. A second key article challenges us to evaluate justice in charter schools according to values of access, equity, and public purpose. If you would like additional printed copies for discussion in your congregation, please contact Jan Resseger (216-736-3711) or ressegerj@ucc.org.

"Tyranny of the Test: One Year as a Kaplan Coach in the Public Schools" is Jeremy Miller's story of his role as a Supplemental Education Services tutor under the No Child Left Behind Act. Miller exposes the flaws of redirecting public tax money that could have been spent to strengthen public school staffing and programming to Kaplan, a private contractor providing NCLB-mandated services to schools labeled "failing" under the federal law. The story contains shocking statistics about the role of private contracting and profit: "The failure of schools serving low-income students has been a windfall for the testing industry. Title I funds earmarked for test tutoring increased by 45 percent during the first four years of NCLB, from $1.75 billion in 2001 to $2.55 billion in 2005. With the ever growing stream of funding flowing through the nation's schools, the number of supplemental-service providers nationwide has exploded... In 2003, Kaplan hired former NYC Chancellor of Education Harold Levy as an executive vice president and general counsel, and in 2006 relocated its headquarters for Kaplan K12, the division of the company that works in schools, from Midtown Manhattan to luxury offices downtown. According to Crain's, the company made the move 'to be closer to the New York City Department of Education.'"

Action Needed Now

The reauthorization of NCLB will now drag into 2009. Please tell your Senators and Representatives that you remain very concerned. Send the letter to Senators and Congressional Representatives at our TakeAction page. Please send the letter as-is or as you edit it, and urge others to do so.

Jeannette Brown