Is there a 2020 presidential candidate who can articulate a way for all children, irrespective of the zip code of residence, to thrive in our publicly funded schools?

The quality of public education on an equity continuum is the No. 1 civil rights issue at the dawning of this new decade.  Author Jonathan Kozol’s book, “Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools” (1991) continues to be uber relevant in the beginning of 2020.

Public school funding in 2018-19 has increased per pupil for the fifth consecutive year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. We spend more on education per pupil than other countries with disproportionate and disappointing results.

The 2019 results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the best measure we have of student achievement for 4th and 8th grade students, reported that only one-third of students were proficient in reading.  In addition the NAEP results indicate that progress in both math and reading have been stagnant for the past 10 years.

In one of the wealthiest countries on the planet 23% of all children live in families with incomes below the poverty threshold of $24,600 (contiguous 48 states plus D.C.) for a family of four. Certainly poverty impacts learning results, but there is a volume of research that documents that the quality of school and teacher makes a huge impact on student achievement. In addition quality early learning from birth to five must become integral to our public school sequence.

This is why as a trustee on the Santa Clara County Board of Education I have consistently and strongly advocated for an “all hands on deck” philosophy to be embraced to improve educational outcomes for each and every one of our children. The education wars between publicly funded charters vs. traditional public schools have intensified during the last several years and diminish that chance for collaboration to address inequities and provide best practices to all learners. Let’s stop the wars and address the systemic problems that create the achievement gap.

As we focus on the upcoming presidential primaries, we should ask  which candidate will focus more meaningful policies on creating equity in every classroom, and school curricula? Which candidate will challenge teacher unions that the best teachers as determined by a jury of their peers, up to 25%, receive significant performance pay, a proposal Albert Shanker, former president of the American Federation of Teacher union, put on the table over 30 years ago. I heard Shanker advocate for this first-hand as I served as teacher union leader at the SCCOE in the 1980s at an Instructional Education Leadership seminar.

Both Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders denounce charter schools in their education policy.  Denouncing school choice is not progressive. Advocating for school choice is. Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden do not directly address the issue of charter and choice clearly.

Vouchers are wrong-headed and not part of the school choice calculus for which I subscribe.  Publicly funded charters that are approved by an elected pubic school board, bound by all transparency and Brown Act laws that produce strong achievement results are.

On May 27,2019, the Washington Post editorial board wrote, “THE MOST enduring — and unforgiveable — civil rights offense in our country today is the consigning of so many poor, often minority children to failing schools. Among the more promising efforts to deal with this urgent issue have been public charter schools, which give poor families the choice in their children’s education that more parents take for granted. That makes all the more distressing the bid by some Democrats to blame charter schools for all the ills of public education.”

Former candidate Sen. Cory Booker was closest to my position on choice and charters.  Booker, in a New York Times oped, wrote  “The treatment by many Democratic politicians of high-performing public charter schools as boogeymen has undermined the fact that many of these schools are serving low-income urban children across the country in ways that are inclusive, equitable, publicly accountable and locally driven.”

Joseph S. Di Salvo, a retired public school teacher and principal, is a trustee of the Santa Clara County Office of Education.