End this moral crisis: Black and Hispanics deserve justice

On Thursday, nearly 100 black and Hispanic religious leaders, representing 650 churches, stood with me to call for an end to our state’s failing-schools crisis. 

It’s an epidemic that is quietly stealing possibility from New York’s black and Hispanic communities. 

This is an unprecedented coalition of clergy fighting for better schools in New York, and it represents more than 100,000 congregants across multiple denominations, in every corner of the state. 

These voices cannot be ignored, since they make it clear that New York’s failing-schools crisis is no longer just an education issue — it has become a moral one. 

Fixing the state’s failing-schools crisis is a fundamental question of justice for our black and Hispanic children, for children trapped in failing schools in districts from Buffalo to ­The Bronx. 

Here in New York City, 143,000 children are trapped in schools that prepare less than one in 10 of them to read or do math at grade level. And there are 90 schools in this city where no black or Hispanic children passed the state exams. 

More than 90 percent of all black and Hispanic students in New York City attend failing schools where less than half of the students are able to read or do math at grade level. 

In New York City, the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against these kids before they even enter the schoolhouse door.

Numbers this grim are not statistics. They are crimes. 

But it is not just limited to New York City: We have come together because we see failure in every corner of the state. Nearly 800,000 children failed a proficiency exam last year. 

These are systemic problems that cannot be fixed with bureaucratic tweaks or an additional infusion of money. 

The solutions require bold, structural change that empowers us to give every New York family access to a high-quality school.

The answers to our failing-schools crisis require the moral courage to ignore naysayers and break from the status quo, to recognize that we must work to dramatically expand the number of high-quality charter and district schools. 

As religious leaders of Hispanic and black communities across New York, we cannot stand idly by while this failing-schools crisis gets worse. We need to see bold action from our state leaders because our children are waiting. 

At this current pace of progress, entire generations will continue to be lost before black and Hispanic students can graduate from high school poised for success in their careers. 

With stakes this high for our children, I’m confident that the call for action from Thursday’s clergy coalition will encourage black and Hispanic leaders from all walks of life to take a stand against failing-school systems in their communities. 

I have a message to my fellow legislators in Albany: Let’s rise to the occasion this session and respond to tens of thousands of black and Hispanic parents demanding an end to the crisis of failing schools. Let’s give our parents and children the schools they deserve. 

The Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr. represents the 32nd District (The Bronx) in the state Senate.

Note: This article appear Friday March 20, 2015 in the New York Post on page 29.