California’s Failing Schools Would Distress Martin Luther King Today

Monday is a national holiday to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Across the nation, tributes will be paid to the man who willingly went to jail to ensure that we would overcome civil rights injustices. Boulevards, parks and libraries bear his name. Statues of him stand across the nation. 

So many honors for a man who inspired us to dream.

It’s been:

• seventy-two years since the 1954 Supreme Court ended schoolhouse race segregation with Brown v. Board of Education.

• sixty-three years since the historic 1963 March on Washington Dr. King led. One of the march’s key demands was school integration.

• forty-three years since the 1983 publication of “A Nation at Risk”.  Intended as a wakeup call, it warned us that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people.”

How do African American students fare today? Consider these California facts:

There are 281,645 African American students across all California TK-12 traditional district and independent public charter schools—5% of the state’s 5,806,221 million students. 

Only 33% meet or exceed proficiency levels in Reading (English Language Arts-ELA); only 20 % in Math.  

California spends almost half its entire multi-billion budget on education, and Governor Newsom boasted in his State of the State address about boosting education spending even more in his proposed 2026 budget.  Yet, Newsom’s years as Governor reveals he has been a detriment to educational success for African American students as reflected in the California Smarter Balanced state testing results. The shocking takeaway is that learning outcomes for African American students have actually decreased since Newsom was first elected Governor in 2018 in both Reading (-0.44%) and Math (-0.48%).

So, as we honor the legacy of yet another Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday by going to parades where politicians wave to crowds, these statistics should shock the conscience of every Californian. If education is the key to the American Dream, then African American children in the Golden State have been abjectly prevented from attaining such.  

Yet, Sacramento—dominated by Democrat One-Party rule which bends to the will of the powerful teachers’ unions and the alphabet soup of education special interests, continues in its paralysis on doing anything substantive to turn around these shameful conditions for the millions of kids trapped in failing schools.   What it does, rather, is throw more money at the problem while celebrating  diversity, equity and inclusion by continuing to name schools after the civil rights leader. 

Each year on the King holiday, I pen a column showcasing how, overwhelmingly, schools named for Dr. King fail to meet basic academic benchmarks established by the state for Reading and Math. It is usually received as a scream into the abyss of government sponsored failure, but my hope is always that—one year—the tide will turn and a national emergency will be called by the responsible politicians and elected leaders in charge of this systemic failure.

Today there are 20 schools named for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr– including both traditional district schools and independent charter schools. Undoubtedly, every school should excel. But naming a school for a national hero should bear an even greater expectation that all who enter that school should excel.

At Sacramento’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School—just blocks from the State Capitol where the Governor, Legislature, Superintendent of Public Instruction, State Board of Education meet to decide education policy—only 31% meet or exceed Reading standards and only 27% in Math.   The “good news” is that these outcomes have risen almost 4% for Reading, 2% for Math in one year. Yet, at this rate of “closing the academic gap”, it would take almost a century for African American children to get to the promised land of educational equality and opportunity in California.

The academic failure we see in our state’s capital is mirrored everywhere.  From north to south, schools named for Dr. King post similar anemic, stagnant, pathetic metrics. At the MLK Elementary school in El Centro, only 37% of students meet or exceed basic Reading standards— (actually declining 2% points in one year).  Meanwhile, only 25% meet basic Math standards-a boost of a fraction of a percentage point:  0.11%.  That’s not exactly a success story, yet Newsom bloviated about California’s education leadership and success in his State address.

At San Bernardino’s MLK Middle School only 20% meet or exceed Reading standards; only 9% meet or exceed Math standards.  Congratulations to the district for boosting outcomes by 4.54% and 3% percentage points, but these severely anemic outcomes are still outright shameful given a baseline that has hardly moved in almost a decade.

At the MLK Elementary school in Oakland, only 9% meet or exceed Reading proficiency standards; only 6% meet or exceed Math proficiency.  Where’s the new Mayor Barbara Lee? Wasn’t she a member of the Black Congressional Caucus who marched with Black Lives Matter? Why hasn’t she called for a national emergency to turn these horrific outcomes around? Oakland politicians have been recalled, subjected to criminal investigations, but a blind eye is cast on the kids trapped in the schools even as crime soars.

The poorest performing school on the list for the second year in a row is MLK Elementary in Richmond across the Bay. Here, only 6% meet or exceed basic Reading proficiency; only 3% meet or exceed basic Math proficiency. Three percent! Stated another way, that means that almost 100% of Richmond’s MLK school cannot do Math—and haven’t been able to do so for a few years. This is not only utter abject failure, but it should also be looked at as criminal negligence and the entire system put on trial. Yet, the adults in the system do nothing, and they continue to get paychecks, pensions, and perks while the kids are left to languish.  

At the Los Angeles Unified MLK Elementary school, with one of the highest paid school superintendents in the nation, only 24% meet or exceed basic Reading standards; only 20% meet or exceed basic Math proficiency. Yet, Governor Newsom fawned over the overpaid LAUSD Superintendent for his academic “successes” at the State of the State Address (he’s probably already tapped him to be his DEI Education Secretary in his delusional quest to win the Latino vote and be elected President in 2028).

Certainly, standouts exist: the MLK Middle School in Riverside shows that 72% of its students meet or exceed Reading proficiency standards and 36% do so in Math (quite a discrepancy between Reading and Math outcomes!). At Berkeley’s MLK Middle School, 72% meet or exceed Reading basic proficiency; 66% Math. Parents, accompanied by state officials and civil rights leaders, should visit these schools to understand what they are doing to produce such stellar results. Yet, examination of the school’s demographics shows a glaring racial achievement gap between White and African American students within the school.  Only 29% of its African American pupils meet or exceed basic levels of Reading proficiency in stark contrast to 87% of White students.  In Math, only 18% of African American pupils meet or exceed Reading proficiency, contrasted with 81% of their White students. 

I have no doubt that Dr. King would have believed that “Together but blatantly unequal” should be the end result of the fight against schoolhouse segregation—and slapping the name of the most iconic leader of the civil rights movement with these horrific outcomes is outright disgusting in “progressive” California.

So, here we go again—another Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. But where is the moral outrage? Where is the leadership? Where is the courage to refuse to just show up at feel-good Monday morning ceremonial events and then allow our children to return the next day to schools named for the hero we just honored? How long do we continue to look the other way at a statewide education crime scene-particularly in a school named to honor a man who irrevocably fought to change the trajectory of social justice in our nation? Any school named for Dr. King needs to become worthy of bearing his name. Or the school should be stripped of his name.

And let’s not stop there. California has four schools named for former President Barack Obama. None of the two Obama schools which reported data reports students scoring above 23% proficiency in Reading or 14% in Math—among the lowest proficiency rates anywhere in California.  These are schools named for the first Black President who championed education reform, launched Race to the Top initiatives in order to inspire education leaders across the nation to seek better learning outcomes. This shouldn’t be a partisan issue—Republicans, Democrats, Independents should all be outraged that a school named for a president is tainted with these numbers.

What about the mother of the Civil Rights Movement—Rosa Parks?  California boasts seven such schools. Most fail her. For example, the Rosa Parks Elementary School in San Diego reports only 26% meet or exceed Reading proficiency rates while only 15% meet or exceed proficiency in Math.  At the Rosa Parks Elementary in Sacramento City Unified School District only 16% of its students are Reading proficient; only 8% in Math. I call upon Tony Thurmond, California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction to immediately suspend his delusional gubernatorial campaign and do his job of turning around these schools for the kids. Rosa Parks made a stand by sitting down. Yet, in the shadow of the State Capitol, these students take a seat stained by failure of spineless politicians unwilling to do what needs to be done to turnaround schools for the most needy kids. 

Even the highly lauded charter school network, Aspire, reports its San Joaquin County Rosa Parks Academy a shameful learning outcome where only 16% meet or exceed Reading proficiency rates, and only 15% meet or exceed Math proficiency.  With such dismal learning outcomes, one must wonder why that illustrious charter network has not restructured itself which it has the power to do as an independent charter school?  

Meanwhile, over in Corona and Berkeley, their Rosa Parks schools boast some of the more outstanding outcomes in Reading and Math.

The one school named for Harriet Tubman is in San Diego where only 27% are proficient in Reading, only 20% in Math. Were Ms. Tubman alive today, she most likely, would advocate for launching an Education Underground Railway to rescue students from school plantations benefiting off their little bodies in seats to collect funding for the masters that rule over them.

Public education—which devours almost 50% of the entire California state budget needs not only change, but a complete overhaul. Tinkering with budget formulas is not sufficient. Bowing to the most powerful political interest in California—the California Teachers Association—which signs, seals, and delivers education policy to the Democrat Party and its elected officials wanting to move up the political ladder should not be stomached by California taxpayers, voters, and just humans who care about the lives of African American children.

Dr. King inspired us to act – to change our nation for the betterment of all. This year let’s stop the parades and banquets and all the lip service we have paid to Dr. King to focus on the tragedy of what has happened to our African American students in the very schools named to honor him. To honor Dr. King, let’s have the courage to take on vested status quo interests who prioritize our schools serving as a public works program rather than a public education system that shines equally for all.  

Gov. Newsom has bloviated for far too long about boosting payments to the same failed education system or offering slavery reparations as a means to garner favor with vested political interests. In fact, the greatest “reparation” that can be given to any family, particularly African American families, is offering unfettered school choice and an end to zip code education which keeps students trapped in failing schools. An emphasis on curriculum that matters and is based on the science of reading, for example, must be utilized. Meritocracy, parental rights, massive reforms in the teacher tenuring system can only be accomplished if Democrat One-Party Rule in Sacramento is ended, and the machine is no longer allowed to hinder and destroy the educational dreams of our children.  

Year after year these statistics I report barely change—they even decline as we have seen.  The politicians’ sheepishly worship at the altar of power and money and failing upwards into their next political positions. Only by breaking One Party rule can we usher in some hope for the future in education excellence. 

But this year, I’m not just writing another column.  I have walked away from the Democrat Party I tried reforming for years and joined the Republican Party with its emphasis on school choice. I’m now running to become the most persuasive voice on education transformation and excellence in California as Lieutenant Governor. On this Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday I hope you will join me in breaking the chains of educational slavery once and for all in our California.