Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you so much for joining us today. Todays Education Brain trust is called from brown to fisher, increasing racial diversity to improve Educational Equity. I am melanie newman, the chief Public Engagement and Communications Strategist for the nacp Legal Defense fund, the organization i am proud to say i work for and that is responsible for brown and fisher. So i want to give a little bit of hello . Oh. I want to give sorry. I want to give a little bit of background about myself. I am, ive been with the Legal Defense fund since march of this year but worked in the Obama Administration and on the hill for quite some time. But this issue and the reason i am happy to be here with all of you today is personal to me. I am originally from new orleans but also went to school in selma, alabama. Which im sure all of you are familiar with. My father, dr. Norwood, was the first black School Superintendent in selma, alabama [applause] thank you. And when he in 1987, he was the first black School Superintendent in selma, alabama. And when he arrived, selma was a very integrated School System. The selma city schools were incredibly integrated. They had, though, what is called inSchool Segregation. They had a tracking system where the majority of africanamerican students were in level three or remedial courses, forcing them to graduate from high School Without taking basic classes like algebra i. And in his twoyear term as superintendent, he eliminated that program. The schools are now very segregated. White students attend mostly the county schools, but also private segregation academies that still exist today in selma, alabama. And so that history has stayed with me. It is why i do the work i do, and it is why im here with you today. Thank you again for joining me here for this very inspiring conversation and this incredible panel that we have. With that, i would like to introduce our host today, congressman bobby scott. [applause] thank you, melanie, for hosting today, and its certainly a pleasure to be here with my colleague, danny davis. Danny from chicago, give danny a round of applause. [applause] i dont see any other members here. Okay. It was more than 63 years ago that the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in brown v. Board of education, and in that decision they said that education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. And these days it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms. Then they concluded that in the field of Public Education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. We followed that with recognizing that we Fund Education through the Real Estate Tax guaranteeing inequality, we followed through with the esea, elementary and secondary education act, where under title i we put money into low income areas so thered be a fighting chance. We went further to no child left behind which recognized you not only have to get the money straight, you have to get the achievement straight. And if there are achievement gaps, you have to find them and do something about it. Unfortunately, as Everybody Knows, no child left behind had such a cookie cutter approach that it was not effective and last about a year and a half ago we passed the every Student Succeeds act maintaining the requirement that you assess whether or not there are achievement gaps and have a credible plan to do something about it. Now, were in the process now of implementing the every Student Succeeds act, and everybody has to make sure that your local, state and local School Systems are actually following the law. But weve, unfortunately, during that time seen integration kind of slowly dissoft. We went through dissolve. We went through several years, decades of tearing down segregated schools, but as melanie just noticed, were still segregation is alive and well in the Public Education. As time marched on, the deliberate work of the courts has kind of fallen aside. There have been really some alarmingly hostile decisions that have come along making it even more difficult to integrate even if you want to do it on a voluntary basis. To add insult to injury, the end of the Obama Administration there was a 12 Million Grant Program for those localities that wanted to voluntarily integrate giving them technical assistance. 12 million nationally. The problem that they have is youve got to do it right because otherwise somebodys going to file suit, and you may have a little legal complication. It can be done, but if you dont do it right, you will, youll mess up and have to dismantle your program. I say unfortunately because when new administration came in although many people had applied for the money, they decided not to award any of the grants. And so were going, going backwards, and were seeing more and more segregation. K12 is getting worse. More than excuse me, more than 20 Million Students of color are attending schools that are racially, essentially racially segregate. Thats up from about 14 million just a few years ago. The gao report that was done in 2016 found overwhelming segregation by race and class, found that the high poverty areas, the schools are underresourced and overdisciplined and much less likely to have the kinds of services and resources needed, more likely to expel or suspend students. Now, that situation is going on still now. Those attending the segregated schools are less likely to enroll in college and graduate and we need the make sure that those opportunities are there. And so some of the questions that we have on how to improve diversity in education, how do we improve the racial climate, and thats become complicated because Everybody Knows that we have to have, we have to respect the first amendment. And were trying to have a welcoming atmosphere. And when students feel unwelcomed and leave, theres a question whether that violates title vi of the civil rights law. Now, they say, well, weve got freedom of speech. Just wave confederate flags and make the situation bad. But let me tell you, freedom of speech does not give a pass on hostile work environments under title vii. You had the freedom to say what you want, but when you say enough to create a hostile work environment, then you violated title vii. We have to see whether or not some of this freedom of expression is so bad that you violated title vi in not having a welcoming attitude and atmosphere where students actually want to attend. And then we have to look into what role does admissions to colleges play under all of the affirmative action initiatives that have been going on, some in court and some you can do, some you cant do. And if were going to close the achievement gap and prepare all students for the 21st century, we have to address all of these questions. And thats why were delighted to have such a distinguished panel today on all phases of education. We look forward to their comments and look forward to their specific recommendations so as we consider the Higher Education act and pursue oversight on the every Student Succeeds act, that we can make sure that our students are getting the education to which they have a right according to the Supreme Court. Thank you very much. [applause] and im just advised that Bonnie Watson coleman from new jersey is here. Bonnie. Thank you. Danny, are you going to have comments now . Okay. Are, were going to call my colleague, danny davis, who is a former member of the committee on education and the work force and distinguished, hard working member from chicago, danny davis. [applause] and then, bonnie, you going to be next . Thank you very much. And, bobby, what i really wanted to do is commend you for the outstanding leadership you have provided as the voice for education for democrats in the house. And i dont mean black democrats, i mean all democrats in the house of representatives. [applause] bobby scott. The other thing i would say as i listened to what the plight might be in selma, alabama, is to suggest that its not much better in chicago, illinois. People think of chicago as a big, bustling city, progressive. Every kid in my neighborhood goes to a school with all black children. They dont even think about going to one that is not. Every once many a while a little bit in a while a little bit of busing takes place, but the other problem is that many people seem to have forgotten the whole issue of integration and what it also meant relative to opportunity. Theres nothing to do, i dont think, with individuals just simply wanting to be in the same place. But what they want are the same opportunities, the same results, the same protection under the law. The only thing i can say is that we must continue to strive, strive no matter who is not striving. My mother used to tell us that right is right if nobodys right, wrong is wrong if everybodys wrong. And this issue of providing opportunity for young people to move America Forward in less than isolated ways is a challenge that we must continue. I thank all of you for coming and thank the panelists for being here. [applause] thank you, danny. Bonnie, did you want to make comments . Bonnie Watson Coleman from new jersey. [applause] and while shes coming forward, i want to recognize my colleague from virginia, don mceachin. [applause] good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. First and foremost, i want to thank bobby scott for all the work that he does and the champion that he is for Educational Equity in his service here in congress. And secondly, i just want to say that im proud to be a part of, a cochair of the task force along with danny and some other members as we challenge these issues with regard to Education Equity in our cbc. And thirdly, i want to say i come from the state of new jersey thats got some of the best schools in the country. And i come from the 12th Congressional District that has places like princeton and west windsor which represent some of the best schools in the nation. I also represent trenton, new jersey, and plainfield, new jersey, and those are the schools where you have the concentration or poverty, the concentration of minorities and a, the tools that are outdated and the facilities which are outdated. And its something that we have fought for and we continue to fight for. Because our children, irrespective of the zip code from which they come, deserve a globallycompetitive education. And as the gentleman says, segregation in and of itself doesnt have to be the problem. Hanging out with those that look like you need not be the problem, its hanging out in the environment that has the same tools and opportunities and encouragement and expectation of you is the same. And so it is our responsibility to insure that our children are not left behind on any level. Education is a very important issue for me. Public education is an extremely important issue for me because i think education is the equalizer, and Public Education is the means by which those, the majority, can get their opportunities. So i applaud you for being here, and i thank this magnificent, Brilliant Panel for what theyre going to share for us. Let us learn and be energized and awake and alert and ready to mobilize on behalf of our children. Thank you and god bless. [applause] my colleague from virginia, donald mceachin. [applause] i wanted to stop by and, first, say thank you to bobby for the leadership that hes given on this issue, but i also have a special thank you to bobby that i will probably say a couple or three times more this week. I dont get to be his colleague, but for his unselfishness, you see, because he allowed there to be a lawsuit filed over his district because the court decided that too many africanamericans had been put into one district, and they broke it up into two. So im bobby scotts residue. [laughter] this is what happens after you break up his district. There are no more majority africanamerican Congressional Districts in virginia, but there are two africanamerican congressmen from virginia [applause] and thats in large part because of bobby scott. [applause] i want to say hello to dr. Abdullah. Virginia state. You see we got our orange on. Im not a Virginia State alum, but theyre in the district. [laughter] good to see you, sir. And professor robertson, its always good to see you, maam. Its good to see all of you all, because this is the next frontier, Educational Equity. As we go into the 21st century, how do we achieve that. A what does it look like, and what does it mean. I promise you this, these are thoughts that will be carried forward by the Congressional Black Caucus in one form or another as we try to address this very important issue. Thank you for being here, have good luck with your deliberations. We look forward to hearing what you come up with. [applause] and now, now well begin with the program and, melanie, if youll rejoin us. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, congressman scott. We are going to open with greetings from mr. John king, president and ceo of the Education Trust and former secretary of education under president barack obama. [applause] good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon. Thank you, melanie, for the introduction. Thank you, congressman scott, for your extraordinary leadership on behalf of Education Equity. Certainly want to recognize the other members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are here and those who are not who are all leading on behalf of Education Equity. And i just want to ask us in this conversation today to consider three things. One, this is not your ordinary school year. When i was a teacher and a principal, i loved the start of the school year because at the start of the school year, you havent made any mistakes yet, right . Theres all possibility. But this year our kids come back to school having seen kkk and nazis march across a college campus, some of our kids come back to school in the context of a travel ban that is aimed at a particular religion. Right . Some of our kids come back to school knowing that they and their families may be deported because of policies of this administration. So its in that context that we have this conversation. So this is about what we as people who care about education, care about children are prepared to do to protect our kids. The second truth that we have to grapple with is that despite it being more than 60 years after brown, we have so far to go in insuring equality of opportunity in our schools. And congressman scott pointed out we have places around the country that are more segregated today than they were 10 or 20 years ago. All right . We have places where africanamerican students are graduating at a rate 20, 30, 40 points below white students. We have the reality that africanamerican students who Start College are 22 Percentage Points less likely to graduate than white students. So part of the frame for this conversation is the urgency with which we must work to close those gaps. And the reality that today a majority of the kids in our Public Schools are students of color. A majority of the kids in our Public Schools are in families that are eligible for free and reduced price lunch. If we fail as a society to educate our low income students and students of color, we have no future. Our economy has no future, our democracy has no future. Thats why this conversation is so urgent. The third framing piece i think its important to remember is that there is a lie being promulgated, a lie about affirmative action, a claim, a claim that isnt true about what our higher ed campuses look like. The reality is today africanamerican and latino students are underrepresented at our selective admission schools. Africanamerican and latino leaders are underrepresented in the highest ranks of corporate america. So we have to be clear that the need for affirmative action, the need to expand opportunity remains and part of how to we do that is through strengthening our schools, p12 and Higher Education, and that work couldnt be more urgent which is why im excited for this panel, because this is an esteemed panel of experts who are going to help us think about what we can go do not a year from now, not ten years from now, but tomorrow to change that. But weve got to do it in an environment of vigilance and urgency. Because for our kids, their lives are at stake. Ill close with this. I am standing here today, had the opportunity to serve president obama as secretary of education because of great new york city Public Schoolteachers. [applause] my, i grew up in new york city, in brooklyn. My mom passed away when was 8, my dad when i was 12. My life could have gone in a lot of different directions, but i was blessed to have a series of teachers at ps276, M