Don't Betray ESEA! Project VOYCE Advocates for Civil Rights in Washington DC

This week Project VOYCE stood alongside several national and local civil rights groups to advocate for educational civil rights priorities in Washington, DC. Founded by youth and for youth, PV has been fighting for equity in education for over nine years. As an organization that values youth voice, equity, and inclusion of affected people in decision making---civil rights are at the core of Project VOYCE's advocacy work. As the U.S. Senate and House have put forth proposals for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Project VOYCE has grown deeply concerned by the lack of civil rights priorities. This bill was originally intended to ensure equity for ALL children, yet the fundamental spirit of the bill has been gutted in both versions of what is being proposed by our Congress. We joined our partners across the nation including the National Urban League, Denver Urban League, NAACP, Congressional Tri-Caucus, and nearly 40 other civil rights and education advocacy organizations to stand in solidarity with a firm committment to ensuring the legacy of the original act is carried forth in the reauthorization. We spoke to the offices of all our Colorado legislators and shared our concern as well as our proposed fixes for the Senate version as Congress prepares for the bills to go to conference committee. Our four fixes to the current Senate bill include the following:

Pictured (left) National Urban League, Senior Legislative Director, Susie Saavedra, Denver Urban League, President/CEO, Sean Bradley, Colorado/Montana/Wyoming NAACP State Conference President, Rosemary Lytle, U.S. Representative (D-CO 2nd District), Jared Polis, Project VOYCE (Voices of Youth Changing Education) Executive Director, Candi CdeBaca.

1. Accountability for student outcomes, especially subgroup performance, is not strong enough in the bill. State accountability systems must be required to identify, intervene, and support schools when all students are groups of students are behind or not making progress.

2. Additional data about subgroups of students are needed to help us u

nderstand how ALL of our students are doing and what their needs might be.

3. Equitable distribution of critical educational resources is foundational to ensuring equal educational opportunity. The bill does not require action to address reported disparities.

4. The Secretary of Education's role is overly limited in the bill which will undermine implementation, oversight, and enforcement of the law.