African-American students in the greater St. Louis area have disproportionately fewer educational resources and learning opportunities than students in predominantly white school districts. But such inequities in education can be remedied and resources and opportunities provided to all students, no matter where they live—if families, educators, business leaders, and elected officials work together to level the playing field.
That’s the message of a new report called “Still Separate. Still Unequal: A Call to Level the Uneven Education Playing Field in St. Louis” authored by staff of Forward Through Ferguson. Forward Through Ferguson is a nonprofit organization that arose from the Ferguson Commission, an independent group appointed by former Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon following the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old Ferguson resident.
Get a fresh take on the day’s top news
Subscribe to the St. Louis Daily newsletter for a smart, succinct guide to local news from award-winning journalists Sarah Fenske and Ryan Krull.
A “Forward Through Ferguson: A Path to Racial Equity” report examined social and economic conditions impeding progress, equality, and safety in the St. Louis region. The “Still Separate. Still Unequal” report, found here, examines inequities that affect public school education in the city and county of St. Louis, as well as St. Charles County.
Among the points the “Still Separate. Still Unequal” report makes:
- Federal, state, and local policies and practices led to de jure and then de facto segregation in the St. Louis region and St. Louis areas schools.
- St. Louis–area public schools are almost as segregated as 60 years ago, with 78 percent of public school students attending a racially concentrated district.
- Missouri provides what the authors call “very little state-level funding for education.” They note that as a percentage of total revenue, only one other state, New Hampshire, provides less.
- Funding education through property taxes is inequitable.
- Due to “the vast difference in property wealth in the St. Louis region,” the median assessed value of property in majority White districts is $181,890, compared to $97,751 in predominantly Black districts.
- To make up for their lower property values, majority-Black districts tend to have higher tax levy ceilings than majority-white districts. But even with higher taxes, majority-Black districts “don’t come close to raising what White wealthy districts can raise at the local level.”
- Teachers and administrators in majority-Black districts are paid less than in majority-white districts.
- 1 in 4 Black students do not have access to Accelerated Placement or calculus classes.
Virtual forums for public discussion of the report have already been held, and others are being scheduled, according to Karishma Furtado, one of the report’s authors and Forward Through Ferguson data and research catalyst. Discussions with parents, students, teachers, administrators, and residents across the region are underway.
Says David Dwight IV, also a report author and Forward Through Ferguson executive director and lead strategy catalyst: “We are working to build widespread understanding and commitment in order for change to occur.”
By fall 2021, a Forward Through Ferguson community task force should be in place, Dwight says, and addressing what the report calls “the redesign of education funding and accountability mechanisms, including the regional allocation of property taxes, the Missouri Foundation Formula, and state standards programs.”
In a prepared statement, Dr. Nettie Collins-Hart, superintendent of the Hazelwood School District, said, in part, of “Still Separate. Still Unequal”: “I want to commend Forward Through Ferguson for the timely and important work that you are doing surrounding issues of racial equity in schools. While I am pleased that this significant work is being done, it saddens me that we are still addressing many of the same issues that we thought had long been resolved.
“However, I am encouraged that awareness, advocacy, and action are again at the forefront, and this time, we must take measures to ensure that 30 years from now, my grandchildren and other schoolchildren are not having this same conversation and fighting these same battles in our schools and in our nation.”
Dr. Brian Lane, superintendent of the Brentwood School District, said the district is “committed to partnering with Forward Through Ferguson and regional school districts in efforts to re-design systems to equitably support all students.”
Noting public education is “the cornerstone of our American society,” Lane says not addressing the kinds of inequities the “Still Separate. Still Unequal” report outlines is “detrimental to society as a whole.”
