EQUAL SCHOOLING AS A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT: do we need an equal education amendment?

When the No Child Left Behind Act became law and when the Every Student Succeeds Act replaced it, Congress and President had their school reform priorities bassackwards. Before demanding these impossible results, they should have at least addressed the educational funding inequalities that insure millions of youngsters don't have a chance of achieving them. Instead they ignored the very inequalities that render their own goals ludicrous. And guess what? Their Every Student Succeeds Act still remains in effect.

How severe are the inequalities? Consider the School District of Philadelphia. About 4 out of 10 school age Philadelphia children live in poverty. And this financial neediness spawns profound educational deficits. Nevertheless, a typical Philadelphia high school students in, say, Roxborough High has $13,131 spent per year their education while high school students in neighboring Lower Merion HS have $26,793 spent on theirs. 

Sure, "throwing money at a problem won't necessarily solve it." That's true. But it's even more true that "you get what you pay for." And how many times have you heard that "throwing money" argument directed at defense spending? Ever?

 It would be one thing if such educational inequalities were confined to the Philadelphia area or even to Pennsylvania. But outrageous inequalities in per-student spending persist in district after district, and state after state. Nevertheless, federal politicians, who must be aware of this ridiculous situation, are still piously demanding that every student succeed. Their hypocrisy is truly breath taking, even by Washington standards. 

 Yes, there is federal tinkering that addresses with some of the symptoms of this grotesque inequality. But more than a century of the same inequality suggests that only a constitutional amendment would apply the consistent and persistent pressure necessary to actually achieve equalization. Plus such an amendment would bring federal judicial scrutiny, and that would pack the legal muscle necessary to insure compliance. 

What would an Equal Education Amendment look like? It might read something like this:

EQUAL EDUCATION AMENDMENT Section 1. Equality of Educational opportunity under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, sex, income or place of residence. Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Would an equal education amendment have sufficient support in Congress? That seems highly doubtful. Would the required two thirds of the states ratify it? Probably not. But just raising the issue of a constitutional amendment focuses attention on the inequities. 

 Who would oppose such an amendment? In a Republican dominated House and Senate, there should be no scarcity of opponents. And what would be their stated grounds of opposition? That an equal education amendment establishes excessive federal control over what are properly state and local matters. But that concern seems bogus. After all in the Bush years Republicans took the lead in the most massive federal infringement of state and local control of schooling in our history. The No Child Left Behind Act. 

 Probably the most potent source of opposition would come from those who benefit from the present inequalities. Barring massive new federal spending to raise raise all boats to the same level, the more advantaged states and communities would have to forfeit their present advantage and you can bet their representatives would oppose that. 

The federal government commands the necessary resources to provide every American child with equal educational opportunity. But to do this legislators and the White House would have to rearrange national priorities. We might, for example, have to invest far more in education and far less in the present warfare state. And this would threaten powerful defense industry types who paid to get these politicians elected in the first place. 

That gets us to the only real advantage of putting an Equal Education Amendment on the table; it forces hands and reveals agendas. It puts a question out there that most politicians dearly want to dodge. What is more important to you, providing every American child with equal educational opportunity, or serving the special interests you are presently beholden to? It’s high time that we ask that question and insist on a straight answer. -- GKC