wfn.org | NCC calls on U.S. to assure equal access to education

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

NCC pastoral letter urges President and Congress to assure equal access to 
education for all children

See: http://www.ncccusa.org/news/100519pastoralletter.html

New York, May 20, 2010 -- The Governing Board of the National Council of  
Churches has urged President Obama and members of Congress not to lose  sight 
of the fact that public schools are the basic institution for  educating the 
nation's children, and the government must support public  schools as 
guarantors of each child's right to an education.

In a pastoral letter unanimously adopted during its meeting May 17-18,  the 
Governing Board urged the nation's leaders to help craft a system of  education 
that looks upon children as unique and valuable individuals  rather than 
"products to be tested." And the letter cautioned  politicians against 
scapegoating principals and teachers when schools  fall short of arbitrary 
goals.

The National Council of Churches is a community of 36 Christian  communions 
with a combined membership of 45 million persons in more than  100,000 
congregations across the U.S.

The letter was drafted by the NCC's Education and Leadership Ministries  
Commission, with primary contributions from the Council's Committee on  Public 
Education and Literacy. 

Widespread childhood poverty is a tragic factor that should prompt all  
politicians to seek the most equitable and accessible system of  education, the 
pastoral letter said.

"At a moment ... when many families are under constant stress, and when  
schools are often limited by lack of funds or resources, we know that  public 
schools cannot be improved by concentrating on public schools  alone," the 
writers said. "They alone can neither cause nor cure the  problems we face.  In 
this context, we must address with prayerful  determination the issues of race 
and class, which threaten both public  education and democracy in America." 

The letter affirmed the conviction of people of faith that "public  
education-publicly funded, universally available, and accountable to the  
public-while imperfect, is essential for ensuring that all children are  
served."

"As a people called to love our neighbors as ourselves," the letter  said, "we 
look for the optimal way to balance the needs of each  particular child and 
family with the need to create a system that  secures the rights and addresses 
the needs of all children. We know that  such a system will never be perfect, 
and we pledge as faithful citizens  to continue to improve the schools in our 
communities and to make our  system of schools more responsive." 

The writers expressed concern that No Child Left Behind Act has resorted  to 
annual standardized tests of reading and math for all children in  grades 3-8 
to assess school performance, "followed by punishments for  the schools that 
cannot rapidly reach ever increasing test score  production targets." But the 
instruments of the marketplace are not appropriate tools for  educating 
children, the letter said. "We worry that our society has come  to view what is 
good as what can be measured and compared.  The  relentless focus on testing 
basic skills has diminished our attention to  the humanities, the social 
studies, the arts, and child and adolescent  development."

Federal policy today is encouraging states to rapidly expand school  choice 
through charter schools. However, the pastoral letter raised the  question 
whether or not market based reforms, while they may increase  educational 
opportunity for a few children or even for some groups of  children, introduce 
more equity into the system itself.  

"We are concerned today when we hear the civil right to education being  
re-defined as the right to school choice," the writers said, "for we  know that 
equitable access to opportunity is more difficult to ensure in  a mass of 
privatized alternatives to traditional public schools or in  school districts 
being carved apart into small schools of choice."

The writers added, "We value the contributions of parochial schools  managed by 
some of our communions and the contributions of charter  schools operated by 
some of our congregations. We affirm, however, the  position of our 1999 
General Assembly that 'as a general rule, public  funds should be used for 
public purposes.'  Knowing that traditional  public schools continue to educate 
more than 90 percent of our nation's  50 million school children, we again echo 
the 1999 General Assembly that  called 'on our members to direct their energies 
toward improving the  schools that the majority of children will continue to 
attend.'"

"We believe that democratic operation of public schools is our best hope  for 
ensuring that families can secure the services to which their  children have a 
right," the drafters said. "On balance, we believe that  if government invests 
public funds in charter schools that report to  private boards, government, not 
the vicissitudes of the marketplace,  should be expected to provide oversight 
to protect the common good."

The Governing Board pledged to "to partner with (the President and  members of 
Congress) in prayer and action, working for reform that  values the whole child 
as uniquely created, values teachers, and  encourages and equips the family and 
community to participate in  nurturing the full development of every child."
This partnership will include:

- encouraging congregations to value public education and teachers  through 
sermons, worship, and prayer; 
- supporting parent education and adult literacy; 
- encouraging congregations to partner with public schools to provide  tutors, 
school supplies, exposure to computers and many other supports; 
- supporting out-of-school supports like better and widely available  
pre-school and after school programs; and
- continuing to educate our members about the value of Community Schools  that 
surround public schools with social supports.

The full text of the pastoral letter can be downloaded at:   
www.ncccusa.org/elmc/pastoralletter.pdf  
_____                     

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of  Christ in 
the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical cooperation  among Christians 
in the United States. The NCC's member faith groups -  from a wide spectrum of 
Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical,  historic African American and 
Living Peace churches - include 45 million  persons in more than 100,000 local 
congregations in communities across  the nation. _____

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office),  646-853-4212 
(cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org