Jackson, MS — On Sept. 10 Southern Echo issued a policy paper opposing the efforts of US Dept. of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to pressure states to tie the availability of Title I funds for children at-risk to whether individual states adopt new permissive charter school legislation favored by the Education Secretary.
The analysis by Southern Echo focuses on the several recent credible national studies of charter schools that found charter schools wanting, and the history in Mississippi of segregation in education. Mississippi public schools continue to suffer from systemic under-funding and the legacy of education policies designed to deny to black children the quality of education to which they were and are entitled.
The creation of many charter schools, Southern Echo contends, will divert substantial funds from the traditional public schools and ultimately enhance, rather than alleviate, both racial and economic segregation as a consequence.
