In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson and legalized segregation in public schools by making the "separate but equal" doctrine the law of the land. The Plessy v. Ferguson case institutionalized what had already been an unofficial policy in the U.S.: blacks and whites should not mix, under any circumstances.

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed itself, and struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine in the Brown v. Board of Education case. In Brown, Chief Justice Earl Warren stated, "segregated schools are not equal and cannot be made equal, and hence they are deprived of equal protection of the law." Declaring segregation was unconstitutional in Brown incited many passions from each end of the spectrum: some were given hope they had never imagined, and others were utterly outraged. The Brown case remains one of the most significant civil rights cases ever to be decided in our nation's history. Brown did more than just open up schools -- it took great steps in chipping away at the other institutionalized segregation in the U.S.

There was mighty resistance to desegregation. In fact, in 1957, the National Guard had to be called into Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce Brown. And although some schools did desegregate, the desegregation did not last long. Many whites left the school systems, and the result was segregation all over again.

The Brown decision emphasized the psychological damage of the separate but equal doctrine, but said very little about scholastic achievement. While great progress was made in this area in the 1970s and 1980s, there now is a troubling achievement disparity between black and Hispanic students, and their white and Asian-American counterparts. Today, a new debate has started on how to close this academic achievement gap.

In an effort to level the playing field, and close the gap, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002. NCLB aims to implement new programs in all states and local school districts to address the needs of ALL students. NCLB demands achievement from all students. No longer can a school claim success where only the white students are successful, and the performance of minority students is not considered. While NCLB has an admirable goal, there will undoubtedly be an adjustment period for the schools to meet the new requirements. This adjustment could be less painful with adequate funding.

Since well before Brown, many have believed that the education of minorities has been hampered by a related factor: inadequate funding. To date, NCLB has been underfunded by over $26 billion, shifting an unfair burden to our states and local school districts. This cannot continue if we are to reap the benefits of No Child Left Behind.