Addressing Education at Columbia Forum
by Sybil Maimin

Education was the theme of this year’s David Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University. Educators and civic leaders engaged in spirited exchanges about “Urban Education: Making New York City Public Schools Work for the Community.” People stressed the need for money, accountability, parent and community involvement, and standards, as well as the instability created by high superintendent turnover.

Forty-eight million children attend US public schools, and the 100 largest school districts educate one quarter of them. These students represent the future of our country, yet a panel on public interest in public education sensed a lack of real national commitment.

Stanley Litow, head of IBM Corporate Community Relations, noted we “begin and end every decade talking about a crisis in the schools.” Nothing changes except language: the “goals” of the 80’s have become the “standards” of the 90’s. He deplored corporations, which depend on schools for their futures and contribute only one percent to the education budget.

Dr. Roscoe Brown, director of the Center for Urban Education Policy at CUNY, said if the first constitutional convention were held today, it would include education in the Bill of Rights. He suggested that politicians, who make important decisions about funding, spend one year in a school.

Professor Henry Levin, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, stressed that a “democratic society has to be fair, equitable, and cohesive.” The only common institution that all citizens experience is schools, where they learn to work together and use civil discourse.

Angry at the inequities they see in New York City public schools and what some described as “secret apartheid,” a panel of child advocates addressed community activism.

The Institute for Education and Social Policy is attempting to “invigorate public will” through independent, community-based organizations. Poor schools are ignored by their districts, the Institute’s Norman Fructer maintained, and the system will focus on poorly performing schools only in response to constant, organized pressure.

New York ACORN, a 19-year old membership-based association of low-income people focuses on organizing and advocating for change in social policy. Education is high on its agenda. Executive Director Bertha Lewis described a system where “racism is funded.” She advocated partnering of high-performing schools with lower-performing ones, and independent parent unions.

Margie McHugh of the New York Immigrant Coalition explained that over 50 percent of city students are from immigrant families and 20 percent are English Language Learners (ELL). Latinos have the highest dropout rate, and 30 percent of ELLs leave school. These astounding numbers are not considered by policy makers in “demographic denial.”

Michael Rebell of The Campaign for Fiscal Equity explained that the recent State Supreme Court decision decreeing that New York City get its fair share of state education funds and Governor Pataki’s appeal have invigorated the public and the media. The decision provides hope and puts “constitutional muscle behind high standards.”

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