Congressman Ruben Hinojosa Statement on the 62nd Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and Release of New GAO Report

Statement

Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) stated the following in regards to the 62nd Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education and release of new U.S. Government and Accountability Office report entitled "K-12 Education: Better Use of Information Could Help Agencies Identify Disparities Address Racial Discrimination": (link is external)

"Sixty-two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to end lawful segregation in education. Soon after, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI of the Act mandates that federal dollars cannot subsidize or support programs or activities that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin. National origin includes ethnicity, limited English proficiency, and sometimes spoken accent.

"Decades later, it appears that we are reversing these hard fought efforts. In a new report recently released by the U.S. Government and Accountability Office (USGAO), records show that re-segregation is occurring in our nation's schools at an alarming rate.

"As a senior member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, I join my colleagues in cosponsoring the Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act (EIEA) in order to mitigate, remedy, and restore a private right of action to file disparate impact claims under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Without a private right of action, students of color face countless forms of irreparable harm including missing countless hours of instruction and educational opportunities.

"Our nation has not fully addressed disparities and inequities in education, and we must continue to work together to ensure that we enforce and stand against any discriminatory actions based on race, color, or national origin in our schools and communities, as we worked so hard to do many years ago."

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