November 6, 2019, Austin-American Statesman by Rep. Gina Hinojosa
“We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Such was the proclamation from the U.S. Supreme Court more than 60 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education. The decision written by Chief Justice Earl Warren led to massive, necessary upheavals in our schools, and integration became a universally accepted requirement for any equitable public school system — for a time. Along the way, we abandoned this fundamental premise to providing excellence in education to all children.
A recent report by UCLA and Penn State found that American students are increasingly attending racially isolated schools. In Austin, where we take pride in embracing our differences, we tolerate learning environments for our children that are in some ways more segregated than generations ago.
Even the Austin Independent School District’s controversial “School Changes” plan fails to acknowledge its impact on integrated schools. In a time when hostilities toward minorities, in particular Latinos, have become more mainstream, continuing to turn a blind eye to segregated schools reinforces and nurtures the intolerance we profess to loathe. After all these years, racially integrated schools still produce a world of better opportunities for our kids. We must strive again to prioritize this central tenet of a just school system in our efforts to achieve education excellence.
For decades after Brown was decided, the Austin district fought meaningful integration efforts. Finally, in 1970, the federal government sued AISD, asserting it operated a dual school system based on race and that Mexican Americans were assigned to schools ”... attended almost exclusively by Mexican-American and Negro students.” Ultimately, in 1980, AISD agreed to a consent decree in which it would bus students for three years to achieve integration.
Now, almost 40 years later, AISD is as segregated as when it was compelled to bus its students. In the federal lawsuit, the court cited as evidence of segregation that “over 46 percent of the Mexican-American elementary school children attend elementary schools that have minority enrollments ranging from 91 to 100 percent.”
A Latina student in today’s AISD is more likely to attend a severely segregated school than she would have 40 years ago. Fifty-nine percent of Latino students attend elementary schools that are more than 91% ethnic minority. The majority of AISD schools are either overwhelmingly minority or overwhelmingly white. Of AISD’s more than 80 elementary schools, only 10 have student populations between 35%-50% white, which represents the most integrated of the schools. Of those 10 schools, AISD has had discussions on closing three: Pease, Ridgetop and Maplewood. (The school board plans a Nov. 18 vote on closing four schools beginning in the 2020-2021 school year: Pease, Brooke, Metz and Sims elementaries. Other schools are still under consideration for closure in the future).
Today, even more research supports the detrimental impact of segregated schools. UCLA’s Civil Rights Project found that “segregated minority schools generally have fewer qualified and experienced teachers, higher teacher turnover rates, larger class size, fewer advanced classes ....” Also, the National Coalition on School Diversity found that black adults who had attended integrated schools had “significant improvements in long-term outcomes including increased educational and occupational attainment, higher college quality and adult earnings, reduction in the likelihood of being incarcerated, and better health.”
By discounting the racial byproducts of our policy decisions today, we are sowing the seeds for a future in which race still predisposes one’s potential achievement, and fear and mistrust of “other” continue to define our interactions. We must recommit to fostering school communities that reflect the inclusive environment we expect in our society at large.
Hinojosa represents District 49 (Travis County) in the Texas House.