Minority Leaders Support Ruling

About 15 people gathered outside the Legislative Office Building to speak out in support of an April 4 ruling by Wake Superior Court Judge Howard Manning.

In a 112-page report, Manning wrote that the state must take action to ensure every classroom has a "competent, certified, well-trained teacher and every school has the leadership and resources it needs."

Manning's ruling concludes an eight-year-old legal dispute over inequalities in school funding. As part of his report, he directed the state to provide written reports every 90 days on the steps it has taken to comply with his order.

Organizations represented included the North Carolina branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the N.C. Black Leadership Caucus and the Latin American Resource Center.

Gladys Robinson, chairwoman of the N.C. NAACP Education Committee and a member of the UNC-system Board of Governors, said the ruling cannot be enforced unless school officials recognize the potential of all students. "We stress that teachers and principals must have high expectations," she said. "To deny access to education is denying civil rights."

Robinson said she hopes that by speaking out, the speakers will make it clear to the state board of education that it should not appeal Manning's ruling.

The state education board will meet Wednesday to discuss several issues, including eliminating the achievement gap between whites, minorities and low-income students on end-of-course tests.

Several speakers said denying minorities and low-income children equal access to education is equitable to enslavement.

"Let (neither) race, geography, income nor poverty be the litmus test for education of North Carolina's children," said James Rayford, president of the Carolinas Associated Minority Contractors.

Lavonia Allison, president of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, said it is important that state officials address the problem of unequal education at every level.

She cited the amount of funding prisons get in comparison with schools as an example of an area where officials should look to reallocate funds. "It is important that North Carolina realizes it is not important to pay $30,000 for people in jail but that it is important to pay $30,000 plus for education," she said.

Several speakers also addressed alternate methods of funding education.

A tax increase is a feasible way to ensure that the necessary funds are allocated to education, Robinson said.

She emphasized that Gov. Mike Easley said in the past that education is his main priority and that he should utilize whatever resources are at his disposal.

Another possible source of funding is a state lottery. Easley based part of his platform on using a lottery to fund education.

But Thomas Walker, chairman of the N.C. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, expressed concerns about whether lottery revenue would actually be used to help close the achievement gap and fulfill Manning's ruling. "If the government is not faithful with millions they are dealing with now, what is to think that they'd be faithful with money from a lottery?"

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.