Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP’s chief legal counsel in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case who later became the first black Supreme Court justice, is pictured here in 1958 at Supreme Court after filing appeal in the integration case of Little Rock’s Central High School. Around him are students from Little Rock. (AP)
By Carol Burris
The NAACP has, once again, slapped down the claim that the promotion of school choice and charter schools is “the civil rights issue of our time.” At its 2017 national convention this week in Baltimore, the preeminent civil rights organization not only stood by last year’s call for a moratorium on new charter schools, it also insisted on reform of charters that already exist.
Just as the organization courageously sponsored the lawsuit filed by Thurgood Marshall that resulted in the landmark 1954 school integration decision, Brown v. Board of Education, so too is it willing to critique the charter school establishment, which has fought reform tooth and nail.
Following the firestorm that resulted from the NAACP 2016 resolution, the group’s Board of Directors created a 12-member “Task Force on Charter Schools” that traveled the country holding hearings. That task force listened to more than 50 hours of public testimony in seven cities: New Haven, Memphis, Orlando, Los Angeles, Detroit, New Orleans and New York. Members heard testimony from both charter proponents and opponents. Community leaders, policy experts, parents and students spoke.
To read Carol’s entire post, click here.
