The national board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has reaffirmed its membership’s call for a moratorium on new charter schools. The nation’s oldest civil rights organization cited concerns that charter schools contribute to racial segregation and starve public schools of necessary funding.

“The NAACP has been in the forefront of the struggle for, and a staunch advocate of, free, high-quality, fully and equitably funded public education for all children,” said Roslyn M. Brock, the chairwoman of the national NAACP Board of Directors. “We are dedicated to eliminating the severe racial inequities that continue to plague the education system.”

The national board on Oct. 15 ratified a resolution adopted by delegates at the group’s annual convention in July. Charter school backers including the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the Black Alliance for Educational Options had lobbied the board hard to override the convention vote.

The newer Movement for Black Lives also called for a ban on charter school growth in a policy platform released in August. Both civil rights groups have emphasized support for traditional public schools and called for more investment in public education.

Though this is not the first time the NAACP has expressed reservations about charter schools, the resolution goes further than previous proposals and was ratified in the face of strident opposition, including an intense campaign waged against it by charter-school advocates in the media.

“We are moving forward to require that charter schools receive the same level of oversight and civil rights protections and provide the same level of transparency,” as traditional public schools, said Brock, the chairwoman. “Our decision today is driven by a long-held principle and policy of the NAACP that high-quality, free public education should be afforded to all children.”

Education Week, Oct. 15
The Washington Post, Oct. 15