Elizabeth Warren’s education plan contains several commendable elements: increased funding for Title I schools, a focus on enforcing anti-discrimination legislation, and a commitment to school integration which she states, “helps create a society built on mutual respect and understanding.”
We know. We see it in our members everyday.
And yet Sen. Warren’s policy would stop these schools in their tracks by taking a sledgehammer (as opposed to a scalpel) to the federal policy that helps support similar schools.
Diverse Charter Schools Coalition is a member-driven group of “diverse-by-design” charter schools, representing a grassroots model of integration. Across the country, students, staff and families are choosing integrated charter schools because they know it’s the right thing for them – and our society as a whole. Sen. Warren’s proposals would halt that important work.
Charter schools are a part of solving the long-running challenges of integrating schools. Our members welcome the transparency and accountability the Senator is proposing. Working alongside districts, charter schools can and do provide more seats in integrated learning environments and help develop tools and strategies to enhance integrated classrooms. Unfortunately, plans like Sen. Warren’s cut support of such schools and closes opportunities for collaboration, and instead exacerbate political divisions.
Sen. Warren should see the work happening in DCSC member schools. We are part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Sincerely,
Sonia C. Park
Executive Director
Diverse Charter Schools Coalition
This a response to Warren’s Education Plan Promises Billions for Low-Income Schools and Desegregation published in The New York Times on October 21, 2019.
