Education
Unlike in other nations, public education funding in the United States runs through the local tax base in ways that were designed to create inequitable public schools. And the design has fulfilled its intention, as the United States perpetuates one of the most inequitable education systems in the world.
Average funding was $14,277 per student in 2025. Predominantly Black schools are funded $902 per student less than predominantly White schools primarily due to the schools’ dependence on local taxes. Black students are 3.5x more likely to be in chronically underfunded schools.
39% of students of color attend high-poverty schools nationwide, a rate 12% higher than all students.
65% of low income Black students have broadband vs 82% of low income White students.
Some teachers rate Black children’s academic capability well below White peers when they have identical scores
Only 15% of Black high school grads are prepared for college level math vs 52% of Whites.
Black students often receive harsher punishment than White peers. For example, suspension rates for Black students being caught with a cellphone were 40% compared to 17% for White students in one study.
Children from low-socioeconomic status households and communities develop academic skills more slowly than children from higher socioeconomic status groups, as reported by the American Psychological Association. [1]
The school systems in low-socioeconomic status communities are often under-resourced, which negatively impacts the academic progress and outcomes of the students they serve. [2]
For example, children from low-socioeconomic status families enter high school with average literacy skills five years behind those of high-income students. [3]
The Center for American Progress recommends 3 strategies for realizing a more equitable K‑12 academic landscape.
equitable funding via increasing federal funding for education and promoting fairer and more transparent funding policies at the state and local levels;
equipping schools with more counselors, nurses, and social workers rather than increasing surveillance and policing; and
updating school boundaries and selection criteria to promote racial equity.
Conservative voices still quote Daniel Patrick Moynihan's 1965 report that the the rise in single-mother households was a primary barrier to economic and social equality for African Americans. As a result many educators (and citizens) blame poor educational performance by Black children on the absence of a "father in the house." Funding is currently allocated in the federal budget to encourage marriage. Some government social programs require that recipients attend "marriage" classes in the effort to promote 2-parent homes. In the last decade at least 1.5 Billion dollars in TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families aka Welfare) funds have been exclusively earmarked for marriage promotion!
Christina J Cross, Ph.D carried out extensive research to determine if the presence of 2 parents in the home of Black children made a difference 60 years after Moynihan's proclaimation. In her book Inherited Inequality: Why Opportunity Gaps Persist Between Black and White Youth Raised in Two-Parent Families (Harvard University Press, 2025), she compared children's accomplishments by 1 Parent and 2 Parent White, and 1 Parent and 2 Parent Black households. She found that Black children in 2 Parent homes do not perform better than Black children in 1 Parent homes or as well as White Children in 2 Parent Homes. She noted that African American children are often reared in households with substantially fewer resources than White children, even when they live in the same family structure. Dr. Cross reports that everything (including parent's income, amount of time spent with kids, mental health, etc.) is influenced by the American racial hierarchy. She found that White children's more favorable school outcomes are due to the privilege of growing up in a White-dominated society. The "deeply inequitable system" is more predictive of Black children's success than how many parents live in their home. Statistical reports show that White children of single parents are suspended and expelled less frequently than Black children with two parents. As long as we continue to fix the blame on individual parents rather than on systemic and institutional racism, Black children will continue to fail.
Currently, the quality of education a child in America receives is nearly predetermined by the private wealth and race of their parents. The basis of educational funding must shift from parental race and wealth to students’ needs. Educational problems only get worse after high school. College is free to students whose parents are ready and able to pay skyrocketing tuition rates plus a few academically exceptional students. No student can afford college today. Restricting college education to the wealthiest among us while financially punishing everyone else with educational ambitions is another generational crime against our children of the highest magnitude. That crime disproportionately damages the educational and wealth potential of Black people. (See Andre M. Perry, Marshall Steinbaum, and Carl Romer, “Student loans, the racial wealth divide, and why we need full student debt cancellation,” Brookings Institution, June 23, 2021,).