Federal Fumbles and Candidate Silence. How the Next Administration Can Support Education Equity
Preview:
As we enter the final countdown to the election, I find myself grappling with a nagging sense of abandonment by our nation’s leaders and policymakers. I feel like a child whose parents forgot to pick them up at school, and the last teacher on site is asking, “Do you need me to call someone?” The issues closest to my heart—those that affect our students and education equity—are being largely ignored by the presidential candidates. For the last two years, my staff and I have been in the trenches, battling a fusillade of challenges brought on by our federal government, challenges that exacerbate the longstanding inequities students face as they navigate their path to a college degree. Repeatedly, we call for “someone” to show us, through better education policy, that we are not forgotten. Black and brown students, students who are in the first generation of their families to go to college, and those who come from families with low incomes, unfairly rest at the center of the neglect and disregard propagated at every level.
Originally published: October 28, 2024
Author: Steve Colón
Position: CEO
Institution: Bottom Line
Published by: Diverse Issues in Higher Education