Led by the Education Trust, this letter urges House and Senate leadership in education committees and subcommittees to include a maintenance of equity requirement in any federal relief package in order to ensure that students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, and educators of color do not shoulder a disproportionate share of cuts in state and local education spending. A maintenance of equity provision would do this by requiring states and districts that receive federal funds to protect their highest-need districts from cuts to per-pupil funding and staffing cuts or freezes that are greater than average. Additionally, states and districts would have to publicly report on any staffing cuts, disaggregated by race and ethnicity.
Read the full letter here.