Seventy years after Brown v. Board of Education ended racial segregation in the nation’s public schools, black students still face unequal opportunities and outcomes in California’s schools, according to new findings reviewed this week in Sacramento .
“Whether you are a parent, a student or an educator, the promise of Brown v. Board has not been fulfilled,” said Amir Whitaker, a policy advisor at the American Civil Liberties Union Southern California and author of the State of Black Education 2024 California. Report.
In a legislative hearing room on N Street Wednesday with the State Capitol as a backdrop, Black educators, lawmakers, parents and students outlined these challenges and what it will take to overcome them. A full report is expected in the autumn, but the May outlook highlighted the deep rifts that still exist, as well as frustration and a call for new action to turn the tide.
“We want a 21st century multiracial learning community, not a social control system. We need a well-funded curriculum that reflects us, says Carl Pinkston, director of operations for Sacramento Education Equity Advocates, Black Parallel School Board. “We need black teachers. We need a whole new way of looking at the education system.”
“Our kids are at the top of the charts for the biggest disparities. We look good in the worst possible ways, not only in Stockton, but in the state of California,” said Karesha Boyd, chair of the Stockton Unified School District Black Parent Advisory Committee. “As we implement the Black Education Plan, we must reimagine what education looks like for us as a community.”
Among the results from state, federal and local education data:
▪ Only 17% of Black students met or exceeded state math assessment standards in the 2022-2023 school year, compared to nearly half of white students; 30% of black students met the same standards in English. Six in ten white students met the standard.
▪ About 78% of black students graduated from high school, compared to 90% of white students in 2023, but the percentage attending college dropped to 55%, compared to 68% of white students.
▪ Less than 4% of California teachers are Black, even though Black students make up more than 5% of the state’s K-12 enrollment.
▪ About 37% of Black students in California were chronically absent — missing 10% or more days of classes — compared to 20% of white students in the 2022-2023 school year.
Representation in the classroom
For Kalani Griffith, a sophomore at River City High School in West Sacramento and youth senator for the statewide organization Black Students of California United, combating the exodus starts with increasing the number of Black teachers in a state where only 3.8% of all teachers work. Black. Griffith also proposed opening more community schools where students have better access to education, mental health care and other resources.
“We, as Black students, need to see more teachers who look like us that we can turn to for support,” Griffith said. “There aren’t many adults who look like us at school and can help us succeed.”
For the past seven years, Whitaker’s work has focused on the disparities faced by Black students and families in California and across the country, linking historical injustices to current inequities. It joins the work of lawmakers from the California Legislative Black Caucus, which is now promoting historic reparations for Black Californians at the State Capitol.
“We have to get past that misnomer, that misinformation, that we don’t value education. That’s the farthest thing from the truth, said Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena and vice chairman of the California Legislative Black Caucus. “For more than 250 years we were tortured and sometimes even killed for trying to learn to read and write.
“Knowing the truth about this country and about African Americans, we have always valued education, but it has always been a struggle to get that education,” Bradford continued. “We have had to overcome more obstacles than anyone else to get an education.”
The two years of work by a specially convened Task Force on Reparations has paved the way for legislation now before lawmakers. Investing in the state’s Black students was an important component. Members of the Task Force called on lawmakers “to ensure that African American students across California receive all the educational resources, support and interventions necessary to end persistent racial disparities and permanently close the opportunity gap.” ”
“You have a right to an education,” said Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus and the Assembly Education Committee. “We, as a Black community, have the right to ensure that we have the ability to get an education, thrive, and not have to suffer every day from the outcomes that show the disparities in experiences.”
