May marks the 70th anniversary of the landmark ruling Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The 1954 Supreme Court case unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
This declaration is a cornerstone of the civil rights movement and helped establish that “separate-but-equal” in education and other services was not, in fact, equal.
Reflecting on this victory decades later:
● We see bravery from students, families and activists who risked their lives again and again for change.
● We see perseverance in their multi-year fight to challenge the status quo.
● We see that speaking boldly with a collective voice can create real, tangible movement toward a better, more just America.
And, 70 years later, we also see how we still have work to do.
We look at Brown v. Board of Education as a turning point that pivoted the United States away from school segregation and toward inclusion. But in 2024, segregation in our education system persists in both old and new forms.
Across the country, school districts large and small remain segregated across racial, cultural and socioeconomic lines. These divides are not supported by law, but by deep-seated social inequities that create starkly different opportunities for children who live just a few miles apart.
One of the most segregated school district borders in the country is in Rochester, where the city school district — with a poverty rate of nearly 50 percent — neighbors suburbs, where the poverty rate is just 5 percent. The majority of the district’s eight neighboring borders have similar statistics, isolating Rochester's neediest children with the fewest resources among more well-off communities where those resources are relatively abundant.
The divides are reflected in everything from four-year graduation rates (67 percent to 94 percent) to absenteeism. In the suburbs, about 15 percent of high school students were absent 10 percent or more of the days they were enrolled in school. In Rochester that number is 72 percent.
In 1954, the Brown decision addressed statutory segregation along racial lines that were also prosperity lines. In 2024, deep disparities in wealth reflect these same divides. So, let’s talk about how poverty and segregation still intersect in our schools.
The effects of poverty impact every element of a child’s ability to learn. Children cannot learn when they are hungry, unsure about whether they have a place to sleep that night, or struggling with unaddressed health conditions. These disadvantages— in such great numbers and intensity — create barriers to educational progress that few high-poverty districts in the country have been able to tackle.
But it’s not impossible. And communities are coming together in search of new solutions to these old problems so that no student — regardless of race, zip code or household income — is shut out from the great things happening in New York public schools.
This is the dream of groups like Rochester’s Great Schools for All, which has brought together parents, students, educators, elected officials, business and community leaders to imagine a system of inter-district, socio-economically diverse schools across Monroe County.
The coalition is proposing a voluntary system that would create a 50-50 mix of low-income and middle-class students at each school. This could transform the region, where the child poverty rate of nearly 50 percent is one of the highest in the country. A similar approach is working in Raleigh, North Carolina, where administrators in the county-wide district work to keep the poverty population in each school below 40 percent, producing dramatic improvements.
This is not bussing as it played out in the 1960s and 70s. That system was top-down and mandatory. This is grass-roots and voluntary. That system divided us. This plan unites us.
These diverse schools benefit all students at all socioeconomic levels. A key element of the future workforce in our global economy is the ability to navigate and thrive in diverse environments. Those vital skills cannot be learned in homogeneous classrooms where most students look and act the same.
These schools also can transform communities. Through familiarity, students learn to appreciate, rather than fear, differences. Children form friendships outside their own social groups, collaborate on problem-solving and develop higher levels of creativity. At a time when social media drives so many people into isolated echo chambers, these schools immerse kids in wide, diverse, vibrant, multifaceted communities.
Decades of research show that students who are most disadvantaged have improved outcomes — like higher graduation rates and lifetime earnings — when they attend diverse schools because they have the access to the same opportunities afforded to more affluent students.
The good news is that community attitudes toward voluntary school integration and diversity continue to improve. Recent polls show that 75 percent of Monroe County residents support the creation of the kind of system Great Schools for All is proposing.
By honoring the transformative legacy of Brown v. Board, we can unite in the movement toward equality. Let’s forge an education system that provides every student, regardless of their background, with the opportunities they deserve. The time for change is now, and the responsibility rests on our shoulders.
Melinda Person is president of the nearly 700,000-member New York State United Teachers.
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