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Turning Progress in the War on Poverty Backwards
‘The budget is not fair, Mr. C hair’
M arian W right E delman
“T he budget is not fair,
M r. C hair.” T h a t’s part o f
w hat I said w hen I had the
opportunity to testify at
the H ouse B udget C o m ­
m itte e H e a r in g , “ A
P rogress R eport on the
W ar on Poverty: L essons from the
F ro n tlin es.”
T he budget proposal by H ouse
B udget C h air Paul R yan and passed
last m onth by the H ouse o f R ep re­
sentatives w ould turn progress in
the w ar on poverty backw ards by
cutting critical funding to safety net
program s that help m illions o f poor
children and fam ilies w hile giving
tax breaks to the w ealthiest and m ost
pow erful am ong us.
A ccording to the C enter on B ud­
get and Policy P riorities at least 69
percent of the R yan budget cuts to
non-defense program s over the next
decade w ould com e from program s
that serve low -incom e children, fam i­
lies, and individuals including M ed ­
icaid, the S upplem ental N utrition
A ssistance P rogram (form erly food
stam ps), school lunches and oth er
child nutrition program s, Pell G rants,
the E arned Incom e T ax C redit, the
low -incom e portion o f the C hild Tax
C redit, and S upplem ental Security
Incom e (SSI) that helps children with
very serious disabilities.
A t the sam e tim e the R yan b u d ­
get slashes program s for children
and the poor, C itizens for T ax Ju s­
tice estim ates it w ould give m illion-
by
’
‘ ’
--
-
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■
program s over 10 years as too e x ­
pensive and refusing to pass an
extension w ithout an offset o f lo n g ­
term unem ploym ent benefits that
w ould cost $ 10 billion. A nd the S en­
ate voted against opening debate
on a D em ocratic bill to raise the
m inim um w age to $10.10 an hour
that w ould m ove 900,000 people out
o f poverty, cost the federal g o v ern ­
and support their children.
try o f origin, has access to nurturing
N othing in m y ex p erien ce m akes and enriching early childhood pro­
aires an average tax cut o f at least
m e believe that p utting college fu r­ gram s and effective schools, that no
$200,000 by low ering the
ther out o f reach for low -incom e fam ilies have to choose betw een
top personal incom e tax
students w ill help them co m p ete for paying the electricity bill or buying
rate from 39.6 to 25 percent,
w ell-paying jo b s. N o th in g in m y m edicine for their sick child, or have
repealing the A lternative
experience m akes m e believe that to figure out how to m ake the last $20
M inim um T ax, and red u c­
the current R yan budget proposal in food assistance stretch till the end
ing the corporate incom e
will help create the econom ic op p o r­ o f the m onth.
tax rate from 35 to 25 p er­
tunity and support system s every
It is pro fo u n d ly unjust and im ­
cent, as well as other tax breaks.
m ent not one cent and in fact could A m erican needs w hen hard tim es m oral to pretend to be trying to
T he R yan budget is not the only save federal and state governm ents hit. A nd nothing in m y experience
reduce poverty fo r those struggling
unjust decision M em bers o f C o n ­ m oney by reducing the need for will ever make me believe that snatch­
to survive— including 16 m illion
gress have m ade. On A pril 29, the nutrition and oth er safety net su p ­ ing food and shelter and early ch ild ­
ch ild ren — and cutting the very p ro ­
H ouse W ays and M eans C o m m it­ p o rts.
hood and education lifelines from gram s enabling them to survive in a
tee approved w ithout any offsets a
I don ’ t know w hat religious texts children and hard-working poor fami­
hostile econom y, cutting the very
perm anent extension o f six co rp o ­ M em b ers o f C o n g ress read, but lies to further enrich those w ho a l­
program s that h elp ensure the next
rate tax breaks that w ould drain the w hen I look at the prophets and ready have far m ore than their fair
g en eratio n ’s adults w o n ’t be scarred
treasury o f $310 billion over 10 years. gospels and the teachings o f every share o f governm ent help is e co ­
by a ch ildhood o f deprivation.
T hat sam e co m m ittee in the very m ajo r faith I learn that not caring fo r nom ically and m orally defensible.
In his last S unday serm on at
sam e m eeting dropped a provision the poor, the sick, the lam e and the
W hat kind o f leaders believe we W ash in g to n ’s N ational C athedral,
in the P reventing Sex T rafficking orphan is w rong. A cting as R obin can afford m assive tax breaks for the
calling fo r a P oor P eo p le’s C am ­
and Im proving O pportunities for H ood in reverse and taking from the richest one percent bu t can n o t af­
paign, Dr. M artin L u th er K ing Jr.
Y outh in F oster C are bill because o f poor and needy to give to the w ealthy ford to m eet the survival needs o f all
retold the parable o f the rich m an
its cost.
a n d p o w e r f u l is e v e n w o rs e . o ur p o o r children?
D ives and the p o o r and sick m an
T his tiny, positive provision that A m e ric a ’s dream and prom ise o f a
W e d o n ’t have p overty in o ur L azarus w ho cam e every day seek­
w ould have ensured foster youth level playing field has becom e a m idst b ecau se w e have done too ing cru m b s from D iv e s’ table.
had docum ents like Social Security n ightm are for m illions o f p o o r ch il­ m uch for people. W e have poverty
D ives w ent to hell, Dr. King said,
cards, birth certificates, and health dren and fam ilies struggling to get a because w e have done to o little and
not because he w as rich but because
insurance cards to help them m ake foothold in our $ 17 trillion econom y. have not been fair to all o u r people,
he did not realize his w ealth was his
it on th eir ow n w hen they aged out
T he w ay to end poverty is not to esp ecially o ur children. W e should opportunity to bridge the g ulf sepa­
o f fo ster care w ould have added $ 12 cut the very program s that are m ak ­ be fixing the policies that have fu ­
rating him from his brother and al­
m illion to the 10-year cost o f the ing the difference betw een a child eled inequality and given birth to an
low ed Lazarus to becom e invisible.
bill— four thousandths o f a percent eating and a child going hungry. eco n o m y that has stopped w orking
He w arned this could happen in rich
o f the co st to taxpayers o f those N othing in m y decades o f w ork for for the m ajority o f hard -w o rk in g
A m erica, “if we d o n ’t use h er vast
huge non-offset corporate tax break p o o r children m akes m e believe that people in o u r country.
resources to end poverty and m ake it
extenders.
cutting vital lifelines fo r m illions o f
C ongress and all o f us should be possible for all o f G o d ’s children to
Som e o f the sam e law m akers who fam ilies w ho have fallen on hard striving to ensure there is a jo b with
have the basic necessities o f life.”
ro u tin ely support m assive co rp o ­ tim es because o f econom ic d o w n ­ a living w age for every w orking-age
/ hope we will heed Dr. K ing’s
rate tax breaks are am ong those turn is the w ay to create w ell-paying person in this country, that every warning before i t ’s too late.
c u rre n tly o p p o sin g p ro p o sals to jo b s o r help parents have the tim e single child, regardless o f his o r her
Marian Wright Edelman is presi­
invest $90 billion in early childhood and reso u rces to be able to nurture parents’ incom e or skin color or coun-
dent o f the Children's Defense Fund.
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Reversing Course on Integrating Public Schools
Brown’s
bittersweet Legacy
by E mily S chwartz G reco
W hat a bittersw eet 60th an­
niversary: O n M ay 17, 1954,
the Suprem e C ourt’s landmark
Brow n v. Board o f Education
ruling declared “separate but
equal” school system s inherently un­
constitutional.
A fter m aking great progress to­
w ard integrating public schools, our
n a tio n
re v e rse d
c o u rs e .
R esegregation gradually replaced
integration as a leading educational
indicator over the past 25 years.
In fact, public schools are m ore
segregated today than they’ve been
since 1968, says G aiyO rfield a UCLA
p ro fe s s o r an d the C iv il R ig h ts
Project’s co-director.
It’s not ju st the South. N ew York
State is the nation’ s w orst offender in
term s o f A frican-A m erican segrega­
tion, follow ed by Illinois and M ichi­
gan. Latino segregation, which the
federal governm ent only began track
ing in 1968, “has steadily deterio­
rated ever since,’’ Orfield explained in
an interview.
stances, Kansas c an ’t ask the federal
Suprem e C ourt to overturn this rul­
ing. O th erw ise, the co n serv ativ e
majority might further sully the legacy
“I feel kind o f heartsick” ofthe 1954ruling, named for O liver L.
about the Brow n ruling’s an­ Brown, one o f the 13 parents o f 20
niversary, he said, noting that A fric a n -A m e ric a n ch ild re n w ho
Latino segregation is worse jo in ed a class action lawsuit because
in C alifornia than anyw here they w ished to enroll their kids in
else.
T o p e k a ’s w hites-only elem entary
T he resegregation o f A m erican schools.
public schools m ay com e as a shock
But d o n ’t hold your breath w ait­
to anyone fam iliar with the increasing ing for a breakthrough to ripple across
diversity o f A m erican children. As o f the nation. First, the Suprem e C ourt’s
2012, ju st over h alf o f our kids under conservative m ajority ju st endorsed
five were people o f color for the first M ichigan’s ban on affirm ative ac­
time since English colonists decimated tion.
the Native American population. Back
Second, educational inequality
in 1970, nearly four out o f five public gets way less attention than our col­
school pupils were white.
lective anxiety that Am erican kids
M eanw hile, Kansas is planting d o n ’t learn enough.
the seeds o f another potential solu­
W hether the crusade o f the m o­
tion. In M arch, its Suprem e Court ment is “N o Child Left Behind,” “Race
ordered the state’s lawmakers to make to the T op,” or forcing teachers to
school funding m ore equitable and em brace the C om m on Core, school
stop short-changing the education system s are frantically m easuring
o f poor children.
progress with tests o f all kinds. This
T h an k s to the c a s e ’s c irc u m ­ unquenchable thirst for data inter­
available preschool. Elsewhere, when
m ost children bom into lower-income
households get tossed into kinder­
garten at the ripe old age o f five,
they’re ill-prepared to m eet increas­
ingly tough standards. Starting at
that point, the data collectors start
recording, m easuring, and decrying
their shortcom ings.
If O klahom a can do it, w hy can ’t
the rest o f the country? O r the federal
governm ent?
Still, even the best preschools are
no panacea.
“H igh-quality pre-K is incredibly
im portant but not a lifetim e inocula­
tio n a g a in s t p o v e r ty ,” O rfie ld
explains.” You have to follow up and
not put kids in extrem ely segregated
schools.”
A fter the geniuses w ho drum m ed
up the testing cult m ove on, you can
bet th ey 'll find a new educational
obsession. A nd so it will go until that
golden day w hen we agree that all
children deserve access to a high-
quality and equal education.
feres with actual learning by m aking
students spend endless hours get­
ting ready to take tests.
H ere’s one thing that m ost educa­
tion experts agree w ould actually help
im prove the prospects o f at-risk stu­
dents: m aking quality preschool edu­
cation available to them . President
B arack O bam a is on it, urging C o n ­
gress to allocate $75 billion in federal
funding over a decade to cover the
cost o f providing free top-notch pre­
school to all children w hose families
earn up to 200 percent o f the poverty
line.
H ow are law m akers responding?
By letting this proposal languish.
T h ey ’re too busy w orshipping at the
altar o f austerity to even think about
it. And few local school system s have
the m oney o r the inclination.
That leaves it up to the states to
pay for pre-kindergarten. M any are
m oving in that direction, especially
Connecticut, M issouri and Hawaii.
Emily Schwartz Greco is the man­
But getting the jo b done isn’t easy.
aging editor o f OtherWords, a non­
So far, O klahom a is the only state
profit national editorial service run
b o astin g q u ality and u n iv ersally
by the Institute fo r Policy Studies.