Multipart Black education series happening in Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A multipart Black education series started in Austin over the weekend with leaders looking for ways to make education more equitable in Central Texas.

The Black Leaders Collective (BLC) is leading efforts in a three-part State of Black Education series.

"BLC recognizes that those closest to the problem are fully equipped to identify and solve their own issues," BLC founder Terry P. Mitchell said. "Because of this, the first summit will convene 300 Black parents, caregivers, students and teachers to discuss educational inequities Black families and students face in Central Texas public schools, private schools, charter schools and home schools, as well as potential community-driven solutions to these issues."

Leaders from groups like the NAACP and the predominately Black charter school Texas Empowerment Academy are just a couple of groups who presented at the summit on Saturday.

BLC said the first summit focused on data ranging from early literacy, college and military readiness and the number of Black educators in Central Texas. These numbers will help give a better idea of where those equity gaps are.

"We realized we have a lot of questions about where Black students are being educated," Tiffany Harrison, a Round Rock ISD trustee and Black Education Project lead, said. "We've seen Black families pull students from Black education. So, we know that we have Black students in public education...Before we started giving resources that weren't asked for, we wanted to start with the families and figure out, how are the children?"