Catholic organizations. Read more at thehill. Com. Next up, lawmakers education advocates, students and former Education Department officials talk about race and education, including improving urban School Systems, desegregation and Minority Access to Higher Education. Its from the Congressional Black Caucus foundation from last month. Good afternoon, everyone. 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 Roussel newman, the chief Public Engagement and Communications Strategist for the naacp Legal Defense fund, the organization that i am proud to say i work for and that is responsible for brown and fisher. And so, i want to give a little bit of hello . Oh. Sorry. I want to give a little bit of background about myself. I am i have been with the Leal 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 i am sure all of you are familiar with. My father, dr. Norward roussel was the first black School Superintendent in selma, alabama. [ applause ] thank you. In 1987. He was the first black School Superintendent in selma, alabama. When he arrived, selma was very integrated School System. The selma city schools were incredibly integrated. They had, though, whats 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. In his twoyear term he eliminated that program. The schools are now very segregated. Might students attend mostly 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 i am with you here 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. Its a pleasure to be here with my colleague, danny davis. Danny from chicago. Give danny a round of 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 bor board of education saying that education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments and its doubtful that any child would be expected to sec seed if denied the right of education. Its a right which must be available to all. The doctrine of separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Now, thanks in that 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 there would 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 achievement straight. 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 about a year and a half ago we passed the every student sec seeds 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, we are 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 we have, unfortunately, during that time seen integration kind of slowly dissolve. We went through several years of decades of tearing down segregated schools, but as melanie just noticed, were still having 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 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, at the end of the Obama Administration there was a 12 Million Grant Program for those localities that wanted to voluntarily integrate. Giving technical assistance. This is 12 million nationally. The problem that they have is youve got to do it right because, otherwise, somebody is going to file suit and you have a little legal complication. It can be done, but if you dont do it right, you will you will mess up and have to dismantle your program. I say, unfortunately, because when the new administration came in, although many people had applied for the money they decided not to award any of the grants. And so we are going going backwards. And were seeing more and more segregation. K through 12 is getting worse. More than excuse me. More than 20 Million Students of color are attending schools that are racially essentially racially segregated. 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 of the schools are underresourced and over disciplined 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 to make sure that those opportunities are there. Some of the questions that we have are how do we 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 we are trying to have a welcoming atmosphere. And when students feel unwelcomed and leave, there is a question of whether that violates title 6 of the civil rights law. They say we have freedom of speech. Freedom of speech does not give a pass on hostile Work Environments under title vii. You have the freedom to say what you want but when you said enough to create a hostile Work Environment youve violated title vii. We have to see whether some of the freedom of expression is so bad that you violated title vi and not having a welcoming attitude and atmosphere where students actually want to attend. We then have to look into what role does admissions to colleges play and under all of the affirmative action initiatives that have been going on, some in court, some you can do, some you cant do. If we are going to close the achievement gap and prepare all students for the 21st century we have to address all these questions. Thats why we are 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 overnight on every student sec seeds ac succeeds act we can ensure that all the students are getting the education to which they have a right according to the Supreme Court. Thank you very much. [ applause ] and i am just advised that Bonnie Watson coleman from new jersey is here. Bonnie. Thank you. Danny, are you going to have comments now . Okay. Our were going to call on my colleague, danny davis, who is a former member of the committee on education in the workforce and distinguished hardworking member from chicago, danny davis. [ applause ] then, bonnie, you are going to be next. Thank you very much. And bobby, what i really wanted to do was 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. Bobby scott. [ applause ] 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 in a while a little bit of busing takes place. But the other part is that many people seem to have forgotten the whole issue of integration and what it also meant relative to opportunity. There is nothing to do, i dont think, with individuals just simply wanting to be in the same place. But whethat they want are the s 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 nobody is right. Wrong is wrong if everybody is 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, do you want to make comments . Bonnie Watson Coleman from new jersey. [ applause ] and while she is coming forward, i want to recognize my colleague from virginia,don mckeechen. Dn donald mckeechen. 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. Secondly, i just want to say that i am proud to be a part of the 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. But i also represent trenton, new jersey, and plainfield, new jersey, and those are the schools where you have the concentration of poverty, the concentration of minorities, and a the tools that are outdated and the facilities which are outdated. And 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 globally competitive education. As the gentleman said, segregation in and of itself doesnt have to be the problem. Hanging out with those that look like you need not be the problem. If hanging out in the environment that has the same tools and opportunities and encouragement and expectation of you it the same. And so it is our responsibility to ensure that our children are not left behind on any level. Education is a very important issue for me. Public education is an extremely 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 they are going to share for us. Let es 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 mckeechen. [ applause ] i wanted to stop by and first say thank you to bobby for the leadership that he has 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 i am bob yby scotts residue. This is what happens after you break up his district. There are no more majority africanamerican districts in virginia but there are two africanamerican congressman from virginia in large part because of bobby scott. Hello to dr. Abdullah. Virginia state. I am not an alum but theyre in the district. G good to see you. Professor robinson. Good to see you, maam. Good to see you all. This is the next front tier. Educational equity. How do we achieve that, what does it look like and what does it mean. Youll develop good thoughts here today. I promise you these are thoughts this 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. Good luck with your deliberations. We look forward to hearing what you come up with. [ applause ] and now well begin with the program. Melanie, if you will 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. I 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. 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 . There is all possibility. This year our kids come back to school having seen the kkk and nazis march across a campus. Some of our kids come to school in the conhe tetext of a travel aimed at people of a particular religion. Some come back to school knowing they or their families may be deported. This is about what we as people who care about education and 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 ensuring equality of opportunity in our schools. As congressman scott pointed out, we have places around the country that are more segregated today than they were 10 or 20 years ago. 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. Majority of kids in our Public Schools are in families eligible for free or reduced price lunch. If we fail as a society to education 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 thats important to remember is that there is a lie being propagated, 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 under represented at our selective admission schools. Africanamerican 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 we do that is through strengthening our schools. P through 12 and Higher Education. And that work couldnt be more urgent, which is why i am excited for this esteemed panel of experts who will help us think about what we can go do not a year or ten years from now but tomorrow to change this. But weve got to do it in an environment of vigilance and urgency. Because, for our kids, their lives are at stake. I will 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 ] i grew up in new york city in brooklyn. My moms passed away when i was 8 and my dad when i was 12. My life could have gone in a variety of different directions. I was blessed to have teachers who saved my life. Thats whats at stake in this conversation. Thank you all for being here. Thank you, again, congressman scott, for bringing us together. And lets get to work. [ applause ] thank you so much for those inspiring words. We are next going to hear from mary kathryn ricker. Miss ricker is the president and i am sorry. Exec