Dive Brief:
- In a Tuesday press conference unveiling the findings of its "State of Black America" report, National Urban League President & CEO Marc Morial called for a $2 trillion national investment in human development, including universal pre-K.
- Morial also emphasized a need for any national infrastructure plan to include an investment in school construction and broadband access for students in under resourced communities.
- He also called for the need for any new jobs plan to take into consideration workforce development needs of justice-involved youth.
Dive Insight:
Experts now agree that early childhood education may be one of the biggest determinants of a student's success in later years. Yet 98% of public funding for pre-collegiate education goes to the K-12 system, almost completely ignoring early childhood as a factor. Some argue a reallocation of these resources would save costs on remediation in elementary, secondary and higher education and work to close many educational gaps before they even exist. Helping to make sure all students "get it right from the beginning" would ultimately save states money on the bottom line.
School construction and infrastructure projects remain the most visible signs of inequities between schools. In Boston, for example, some schools are left with poor ventilation, leaky roofs, mold and dark, damp spaces, while others have bright, open spaces, modern facilities and are taking full advantage of recommendations on the designs that best promote learning. And it is largely low-income students and students of color who are placed in the deteriorating schools, while their white counterparts enjoy the facilities better suited for teaching and learning, which also plays a role in teacher recruitment and retention. All of these factors come together to perpetuate inequities between the communities.