The Cavalier Daily
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GRUMBLING: The reality of unequal education

American education is not always an equalizer of opportunity

Education in America is often perceived to be the great equalizer. The thinking is that despite anyone's race, gender or sexuality, everyone has access to a quality education in America, that hard work yields success and monetary gains. However, the reality of education in the United States is far darker than what the surface conveys. If you are born with a low socioeconomic status, your education will suffer, and the chances of escaping poverty are slim to none. Further, this inequality disproportionately affects African-Americans due to the current and historical racist practices such as redlining and gentrification. Because of this, the means by which public schools are funded ought to be changed so that they do not continue to perpetuate inequality, and rather, are truly equal for all.

Public schools in the United States are funded by property taxes from homeowners in a particular locality. Consequently, schools located in areas stricken with poverty directly suffer from a lack of funding. This policy dates back to 1972 in a Supreme Court Case, San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, which decided unequally funding schools did not violate the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. Unfortunately, a national court case overturning this decision is unlikely due to the long-standing tradition of state funded public schools, in addition to the current split in Supreme Court justices. The most realistic approach is for individuals to urge their states to end the unfair practices regarding public school funding.

This inequality affects all, though African-Americans and other people of color suffer the most, in part due to America’s history of racist practices. One such practice is redlining, which refers to a “discriminatory pattern of disinvestment and obstructive lending practices that act as an impediment to homeownership among African-Americans and other people of color.” Banks employed this tactic to strategically deny loans to people of color in order to segregate neighborhoods. While redlining is technically illegal, the Washington Post found the practice is still in use to discriminate against black and Hispanic individuals.

Gentrification, the process by which “more affluent individuals move into neighborhoods and, as a result of increased housing costs, displace longstanding neighborhood residents,” has ties here in Charlottesville. A report by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service found home values in Charlottesville have dramatically increased over the past two decades, thus driving out many residents of color with familial roots to their neighborhoods. Last year, Cavalier Daily columnist Sawan Patel argued students of the University ought to consider their part in gentrification in Charlottesville.

Both of the aforementioned racist processes contribute to a culture in which low-income areas are densely populated, and people of color are frequently forced into specific neighborhoods. Because of this, people of color are disproportionately affected, and often, their quality of education suffers. According to a national study conducted in 2015 by members of the Education Law Center and Rutgers Graduate School of Education, "Virginia does poorly on all four fairness measures and ranks in the bottom ten of all three resource indicators" regarding inequality in public school funding.

It is clear education in America — and Virginia specifically — is unequal; however, the question remains how to create a funding system that provides equal opportunity to everyone. While experts have yet to agree on one specific plan, ideas such as redistributing funds to localities where they are most needed, giving more discretion to school officials, and increased national funding have been suggested. Finding a sustainable solution is necessary so that a long term plan may be successfully implemented. Increasing national funding by a specific quantity per locality fails to account for the existing inequalities, so a better approach could be either increasing funds to poorer localities, or redistributing existing funding. Similarly, reallocating property taxes to poorly funded public schools could aid in this. I understand the logistics of implementing these plans might seem daunting, but it is our constitutional and moral obligation to provide the opportunity for everyone to access a quality education. Ultimately, the inequalities created by unfair public school funding practices are unacceptable, since they so heavily perpetuate the racial and socioeconomic inequalities in our country.

Meghan Grumbling is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at m.grumbling@cavalierdaily.com

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