Civil Rights Groups Call for New Federal Education Agenda

Seven leading civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the National Urban League, called on U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today to dismantle core pieces of his education agenda, arguing that his emphases on expanding charter schools, closing low-performing schools, and using competitive rather than formula funding are detrimental to low-income and minority children.

The groups, which today released their own education policy framework and launched the National Opportunity to Learn campaign to advance their ideas, want Mr. Duncan to make big changes to his draft proposal for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

“While there are numerous positive aspects of the administration’s education agenda, more-comprehensive reforms are necessary to build a future where equitable educational opportunity is the rule, not the...