Biden's Education Policy Should Be Equitable ... Cindy Marten Isn't
The president's nominee for Deputy Education Secretary never did a good job of protecting Black and Brown students
Publisher’s Riff
Beyond the ‘reopen schools’ debate is the much more crucial question of equity: How do we make those same schools more equitable? As bad as this pandemic has been, it does present the new Biden administration – soon approaching its “first 100 days” – with opportunities to answer that question. Yet, the decision to nominate San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Superintendent Cindy Marten as Deputy Education Secretary is not the way to go about that, especially in the middle of one of the most defining social justice movements this nation has seen in decades.
Public opposition to Marten’s nomination is fierce. However, when framed primarily as a charter schools versus public schools debate, it completely misses the point. At its core is an essential discourse on racial equity and the nation’s ability to unbuckle persistent education achievement gaps overwhelming Black, Brown and Indigenous students.
Since her arrival as Superintendent in 2013, Marten has overseen one of the most troubling levels of anti-Black student bias in the nation. Instead of facilitating safe academic spaces for marginalized students, SDUSD is among the worst national examples of a high suspension rate, feeding the “school-to-prison pipeline.” This presents a problematic dilemma for the Biden administration: On one hand the new White House champions racial equity in a refreshing (and needed) departure from the last administration, but on the other hand it’s not displaying that commitment with one of its more consequential education policy picks.
An October 2020 report by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies and The Learning Policy Institute ranks SDUSD as 17 out of 20 of the largest districts highlighted for “… days of lost instruction [for Black students] due to out-of-school suspension.” Rates of lost instruction for Black students were triple that of the overall district, with every 100 Black students losing 36 days of classroom time from suspension followed by Latino students losing 13 days – compared to every 100 White students losing just seven days. And while the overall school system population is just over 8 percent Black, they account for nearly 8 percent of all suspensions versus Whites (who are 25 percent of the student population) receiving just 2 percent of all punishments.
This naturally leads to poorer academic outcomes for San Diego’s Black and Brown students, as a 2019 report from the Community College Assessment Lab discovered. Black reading proficiency rates are, sadly, the lowest out of all demographic groups: 42 percent below standard followed by Latino students at 26 percent. And Black students rank at the bottom of racial demographic math scores at nearly 70 points below the standard.
When alternative, publicly funded Opportunity Schools opened up in recent years to close those gaps, San Diego school districts quickly sued to try to close them and maintain their woeful status quo. Even when those same schools were successfully addressing the need of those same underserved, low-income Black and Brown students who were among the populations being systematically profiled and punished by their local school system, district officials were only interested in reclaiming dollars tied to the students they say they lost to these opportunity schools. The district, under Marten, didn’t seem concerned with student achievement. Instead, it seemed more concerned with prioritizing control and power. Why launch a lawsuit against an education program that works for vulnerable students - especially when your district will not educate them properly?
Individuals being considered for top federal education policy posts should be applauding and supporting models that reach equitable objectives … not suing them.
Marten’s nomination shouldn't just alarm parents and equity education advocates. It should alarm anyone concerned about the academic achievement, safety, and future of Black, Brown and Indigenous students. Fortunately, in the case of San Diego, courts recently ruled in favor of the opportunity schools and the students needing those alternatives the most. That fight continues. Unless something is done to protect Black students, these systems will continue putting marginalized students in jeopardy.
Marten’s nomination is not an obscure political fight on Capitol Hill. Black, Brown and Indigenous families truly concerned about equity should explore every opportunity to dismantle systemic bias targeting their children – and they can start by ending the nomination of someone who seemed oblivious to that concern for years.
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