Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G. K. Butterfield Unveils New GAO Report on Modern-Day Segregation in Public Schools

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  CBC Chairman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) gave remarks at a press conference to commemorate the 62nd Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and unveil a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on contemporary racial and socioeconomic segregation and disparities in K-12 public schools.  Committee on Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Committee on the Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (MI-03), along with retired Congressman George Miller, first requested this report in May 2014 to identify actions needed to reduce segregation and disparities in public schools.  The GAO gathered data from the U.S. Department of Education and found that inequities in public schools are the result of race, poverty, and housing segregation patterns.

Remarks by CBC Chairman Butterfield, as prepared for delivery, follow:

62 years ago today the Supreme Court took a monumental step to correct the precedent established in Plessy v. Ferguson of “separate but equal.” The landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision struck Plessy down and held that “separate was inherently unequal.”  At that time, segregation was the law and subjected generations of students of color to inferior education, dilapidated facilities, and significantly reduced resources in order to fulfill a racist and oppressive agenda.

After the Brown v. Board decision, it took years of resistance and federal action to integrate schools.  But now six decades later, we have seen public schools seemingly regress back to the segregated state we saw during the Jim Crow era.  Overt racism has now turned to institutional racism creating structural barriers that have countered the positive impact of the Brown v. Board decision. 

Racial and socioeconomic segregation in public schools has nearly doubled since 2000 and has occurred primarily in schools where more than 75 percent of the students are Black or Hispanic and eligible for free or reduced lunch.  What’s more alarming is that three out of five high-poverty schools have high concentrations of students of color.  Folks, there is a problem with our education system and we need to take immediate action to restore our promise to provide equal access to educational opportunity. 

The CBC has been fighting to address not only the racial wealth gap, but also the achievement and opportunity gaps that continue to widen.  These gaps pose dire economic consequences for communities of color—we must work to counter these disparities and also to address the school-to-prison pipeline which disproportionately affects African American students.  Friends, we have work to do.

I want to thank my colleagues Ranking Member John Conyers and Ranking Member Bobby Scott for their leadership in calling for this GAO report.  It will require deliberate decisions and efforts to achieve true equity in education and equality for all students in our schools.  I call on my colleagues in the House and the Senate to join us in our efforts to create better schools for our youth.

To learn more about the Congressional Black Caucus, visit http://cbc-butterfield.house.gov.