On June 29, the historic report of the statewide task force investigating reparations for Black Californians will be delivered to the Legislature. This discussion was created for KQED’s Juneteenth reparations radio programme, which aired on June 17. Go to kqed.org/reparations to learn more about the task force and reparations.
Margaret Fortune has advised two California governors on education and is the president and CEO of the Fortune School network of public charter schools in the state. Her goal is to reduce the educational success gap between races.
During our Juneteenth reparations radio takeover, Fortune spoke with Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman of KQED on how California’s reparations plans could benefit Black children who are underrepresented.
To improve clarity and conciseness, this chat has been edited.
Dahlstrom-Eckman Azul: You gave expert testimony on racial inequities in education at a task group meeting on reparations in March. How is the accomplishment gap between African Americans and Caucasians in California schools currently?
Margaret Fortune : In California’s public schools, 71% of African American pupils do not read or write at grade level, and 84% do not perform at grade level in mathematics. We are discussing the shockingly constant low achievement of African American students that has become the norm in California. We ought to make adjustments and investments in it. Additionally, because it has been difficult to clearly address the needs of African American kids, you end up with these kinds of nebulous, imprecise approaches that
Increasing the amount of money through the local-control financing mechanism is one of the report’s suggestions. This is how schools are funded in California; each school receives a base grant, and if it serves students with high needs, it receives additional funding. The legislation we suggested would have covered the state’s lowest-performing category, directing more funding to the schools that serve them—a remedy that the reparations task team acknowledged and called for.
I believe it’s time for us to pay close attention to the group that performs the lowest. It has to do with their intellectual achievement, not their race. The goal is to direct funds to the kids who require the greatest assistance. 80,000 Black children who are part of the state’s lowest-performing cohort are waiting to be funded. The reparations task force recommends that we make investments in this group, and there is a method that is neutral to race for doing so. I like that the reparations task team is avoiding the common mistake of attributing race to someone’s money.
What obstacles do you believe the recommendations in the final report might encounter in the state legislature?
The Legislature, in my opinion, is genuinely very receptive to the notion that African American students ought to be assisted. Since the attorney general’s office is the one releasing this report, I believe it to be their point of view. The governor’s office is where these plans that help Black pupils get into problems. The governor’s office is obsessed with the notion that anything that specifically helps African Americans is unconstitutional. I believe that the governor’s office will encounter difficulties with these initiatives rather than the Legislature.
At the school district level, Oakland and Berkeley have started their own initiatives for reparations. What are your thoughts on these? Can school districts effectively address racial inequity, or does this matter best addressed at the state level?
At the National Action Network conference in Sacramento, I had the privilege of speaking on a panel alongside a Berkeley trustee who is spearheading the organization’s reparations initiative. At the request of parents, Berkeley began including Black children in its local control and accountability financing formula in 2013. They’re currently having a talk on reparations, which is interesting to see, in my opinion. Even though the topic is just getting started, I believe that Berkeley is being watched closely by people around the country as they consider how to repair African Americans after a past that has led to low academic attainment in schools. In summary, the issue of African American accomplishment is a grave concern that has only gotten worse.
You’ve attended these meetings of the reparations task group, and a significant portion of the agenda has been devoted to listing the damages done at the state level. In your view as a teacher and the creator of public charter schools, what negative effects have states had on student achievement?
The biggest damage, in my opinion, has come from disregarding African American pupils. The practice has been to discuss them in words but never to deal with them in policy. In contrast to what the state will not do for Black students, we have seen a willingness to be extremely particular in meeting the requirements of other high-needs pupils. Additionally, Black pupils can now be identified by their low academic achievement rather than by their race.
