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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (May 30, 2018)
Page 2 The Skanner May 30, 2018 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher School Choice Not the Right Choice for All Students Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor W Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Christen McCurdy News Editor Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2017 MERIT AWARD WINNER The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 info@theskanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2018 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS n F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n d ay ! • L i ke u s o ac it Updated daily. to y • Opinion hen the best educa- tors in America trav- eled to Washington, D.C. for a series of events celebrating innovation in the classroom and to share best practices in K-12 educa- tion, they let officials at the Department of Education and the White House know ex- actly how they felt about the Trump Administration’s cur- rent push for school choice programs. According to edchoice.org, school choice programs allow, “public education funds to follow students to the schools or services that best fit their needs—whether that’s to a public school, private school, charter school, home school.” In April 2018, the Depart- ment of Education (ED) host- ed the “Honoring Martin Lu- ther King Jr.’s Drum Major Legacy: Innovative Pathways to Success” celebration; the event was sponsored by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans in collab- oration with the Center for Faith-Based and Neighbor- hood Partnerships. The Education Depart- ment’s MLK Legacy event honored individuals who per- form extraordinary acts of service in their communities, specifically those individuals Dr. Elizabeth Primas Progam Manager, NNPA who support high-quality ed- ucation for children of color. Many of the awardees work with parents or community groups that provide primary care for children; some even provide educational support services outside of the tradi- “ Every child should be entitled to high-quality education in the Unit- ed States of America tional public school model. School choice became a hot topic during the event, as sev- eral attendees were visibly disgruntled at the mention of the controversial approach. The Trump Administration has proposed to decrease funding to authorized in- vestments for public schools while increasing funding op- portunities for school choice programs and private school vouchers. Ninety percent of children in America attend public schools. Increased funding to school choice pro- grams, while reducing fund- ing to public schools is a strat- egy that leaves behind our most vulnerable students. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has repeatedly said that she’s committed to uphold the intentions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the education law signed by President Barack Obama. However, the priori- tization of school choice pro- grams in the proposed FY2019 budget contradicts one of the original intentions of the law: to promote equity and increase access to high-quali- ty education for all students. Furthermore, prioritiza- tion of school choice isolates homeless children, migrant children, youth in foster care and children from military families. In fact, ESSA re- quires that school districts report student outcomes for these groups for the very first time. The 2018 Teacher of the Year awardees echoed similar concerns during their annual White House visit in April. The top teachers in the coun- try reported that they did not approve of funding private schools at the expense of their most vulnerable, at-risk stu- dents. Every child should be enti- tled to high-quality education in the United States of Amer- ica. Every neighborhood school should be equipped to provide high-quality courses and curriculum. Every stu- dent should have highly-qual- ified teachers and a menu of extra-curricular activities to choose from. Until the ad- ministration prioritizes the equitable improvement of all schools, their verbal commit- ment to uphold the original intent of ESSA is just another “alternative fact.” Learn more about the Every Student Succeeds Act at nnpa. org/essa. Dr. Elizabeth Primas was the 2000 Teacher of the Year award recipient for Washington, D.C. Dr. Elizabeth Primas is an educator, who spent more than 40 years working towards im- proving education for children of diverse ethnicities and back- grounds. Dr. Primas is the pro- gram manager for the NNPA’s Every Student Succeeds Act Public Awareness Campaign. Follow Dr. Primas on Twitter @ ElizabethPrima3. Protecting Our Community During National Foster Care Month I n the late 1980s and early 1990s, our community was under a full-fledged attack. Crack was in our streets, it was in our schools, it was in our parks, it was in our play- grounds, and for some, it was in our homes. The epidemic wasn’t just affecting one part of the community; this im- pacted the entire community, leaving sons without fathers, daughters without moth- ers, and parents, ultimately, alone. But the carnage didn’t stop there. Policies enacted during the crack epidemic exacerbat- ed the destruction. Children in South Los Angeles were ripped away from their par- ents and shipped off into the child welfare system, some to never see their parents, or their families, again. It was at the height of the crack ep- idemic when the number of kids in foster care exploded and the percentage of Black youth in the system skyrock- eted. Now, the country, not just our community, faces a new epidemic. Our child welfare system is already becoming increasingly populated due to the consequences of the opioid epidemic. The current Rep. Karen Bass Senator (D-Calif.) crisis is starting to devas- tate families and our already over-worked and under-re- sourced child welfare system. This time, we must apply the lessons learned from the “ No one knows more about the pitfalls of our nation’s child welfare system than those who grew up in it. crack epidemic: if you want successful policy, you must include the affected commu- nities in the formulation of new policy. We cannot afford to turn our backs on those impacted again. At the end of this month, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth will host its 7th annual Foster Youth Shadow Day, a program that brings foster youth from all over the country to meet and shadow the very Members of Con- gress who represent them in Washington, D.C. No one knows more about the pitfalls of our nation’s child welfare system than those who grew up in it. These young people are travelling thousands of miles to come to D.C. to share their stories— both their challenges with abuse, trafficking, overmed- ication, or homelessness—as well as their successes with mentorship, adoption, fami- ly reunification, community activism and independent living. The result of these visits is a better understanding of how to improve the child welfare system and fight against this epidemic. The FY 2018 omni- bus bill that was passed ear- lier this year had the single biggest increase in invest- ment in child welfare funding history along with a large in- vestment in funds to combat the opioid crisis. Despite this progress, there will always be more work to be done and this month, I look forward to continuing this fight. Na- tional Foster Care Month is a month to honor the successes and challenges of the more than 400,000 foster youth across the country and to ac- knowledge the tireless efforts of those who work to improve outcomes for children in the child welfare system. Making sure that all chil- dren have a permanent and loving home is not a Demo- crat or Republican issue – it should be an American pri- ority. Our society is judged on how we treat the most vul- nerable amongst us. We must invest in life improving foster care services, praise foster families, caregivers, and rel- atives for their selflessness to others, and continue to pro- vide a hand up so that foster youth can realize their full potential. Congresswoman Karen Bass represents California’s 37th Congressional District. She is the 2nd Vice Chair of the Con- gressional Black Caucus and the co-chair of the Congressio- nal Caucus on Foster Youth. Follow her on Twitter at @Rep- KarenBass. nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve
