US Lawmakers Propose Legislation to Increase Diversity in Schools

The proponents of a new bill say some school across the country are still segregated by race.

The Strength in Diversity Act would promote diversity in schools by authorizing $120 million in grant money to support new and expand current voluntary community-driven programs.

Supporters of the bill say many students’ educations are diminished by barriers of economic segregation and racial isolation.

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy says {snip} to break the gridlock of segregation in Connecticut and the nation, he’s introduced what he calls the Strength in Diversity Act.

“What I worry that if in our state, kids go through their childhood not knowing anybody that looks different than them, that comes from a different background than them – those prejudices and those biases will start to feel and seem normal,” said Murphy.

The legislation would authorize $120 million in federal grant money to pay for programs that might reduce segregation from revising school boundaries to creating new magnet school programs to hiring and training new teachers.

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Education Project Director Brenda Shum said students suffer in racially isolated, poorly funded school.

“[They]…are exposed to less rigorous curriculum, they have less access to extracurricular activities, less access to technology, and appropriate school facilities,” said Brenda Shum, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

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