Suprotik Stotz-Ghsoh

To ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. That was the purpose of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on April 11, 1965.

I recently read about the ESEA because I wanted to learn the origins of "Title funding." As I read, I was struck by how similar the language of the original legislation is to the language we still use today, now 50 years later. The persistence and increased complexity of the challenges we face to provide a "fair, equal, and significant" education to all helps explain why the Kalamazoo Community Foundation is so heavily invested in The Learning Network of Greater Kalamazoo.

We view The Learning Network as our community’s best strategy to provide a fair and equal education for all. The Community Foundation’s five year investment in The Learning Network is bringing educators together in partnership with nonprofit and other community partners to build the capacity necessary to address community-level outcomes such as college readiness.

We continue to invest in The Learning Network because, through collaboration between schools and the community, we may be able to fully realize the potential of the ESEA, and in so doing, achieve our vision of a community where every person can reach full potential.