By Makani Themba-Nixon

There is an awful lot of talk about why our kids are not performing well in school.

Parents get the lion’s share of the blame. Teachers’ unions are another common scapegoat, alongside the children themselves—who are often cast as unruly and even violent, with little interest in learning.

One of the largest education “reform” efforts, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), a centerpiece of the Bush Administration, took its cue from this analysis of the problem. With its focus on test scores and teaching standards, NCLB has done little to address the fundamental issue: that many children of color are trapped in underfunded schools where parents must fight for the most basic of needs: lighting, bathroom doors, books and even water.

Yes, water. A recent Associated Press investigation is the latest in a long line of reports sounding the alarm about unsafe drinking water in schools. High levels of lead have been found in a number of urban school district water fountains. Washington, DC shut down water fountains in 127 schools in 2007 to test for lead. In rural schools, especially those that depend on well water, one in five schools do not meet safe drinking water requirements established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The EPA is the agency tasked with oversight of drinking water quality, but it has little power to enforce water safety regulations. Yet safe drinking water is critical to kids’ health and academic performance. Water helps brains function efficiently. Drinking water is critical to maintaining healthy weight. When kids do not drink water (and thanks to limited access, many kids don’t drink enough water), they often drink soda and other high sugar beverages instead, causing weight issues and poor dental health.

In fact, health research increasingly points to soda[PDF] as a primary factor in obesity.

The extent of the water problem at schools is inconclusive, but the AP investigation focused on schools with well water, which the EPA estimates is up to 11% of all schools. Of these, AP estimates that about one in five violated the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last decade. The AP analyzed a database showing federal drinking water violations from 1998 to 2008 in schools with their own water supplies. The findings:

• Water in about 100 school districts and 2,250 schools breached federal safety standards.
• Those schools and districts racked up more than 5,550 separate violations. In 2008, the EPA recorded 577 violations, up from 59 in 1998 – an increase that officials attribute mainly to tougher rules.
• California, which has the most schools of any state, also recorded the most violations with 612, followed by Ohio (451), Maine (417), Connecticut (318) and Indiana (289). Nearly half the violators in California were repeat offenders.
• The most frequently cited contaminant was coliform bacteria, followed by lead, copper, arsenic and nitrates.
• Big city schools and utilities also suffer from the problem. DC shut down water in 2007 to assess lead levels due to widespread problems. Elevated lead levels have been found in Baltimore, Seattle, New York, Chicago and Washington, DC public schools.

According to an NBC Los Angeles report: “LAUSD’s own testing shows that 92 percent of Los Angeles public schools have some fountains or faucets dispensing water with levels of lead above what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is safe to drink.”

One in three US children is overweight. Of course, lack of water is not the only reason, but it is ironic that in many communities safe drinking water is considered a luxury, while dilapidated schools, dangerous playgrounds and lead water pipes are standard fare. What is more troubling is that instead of targeting outrage at the public institutions whose neglect create these problems, public anger and incrimination are mostly aimed squarely at those who suffer these burdens—for not doing enough to transcend their conditions.

Blaming the victim is standard operating procedure; in any African-American political convening, one is likely to see a liberal dose of finger wagging at those of us with the problems for not doing enough, shouting enough, being enough. Yet, as important as self help can be, policies matter. Government matters and its impact loom large in our lives. Who is responsible for ensuring we have clean water if it is not the government? What other entity can watch over the increasing number of private corporations that control our water and overcharge us for water many of us cannot even drink?

We must hold government accountable to human rights standards that ensure every community has what it needs to thrive. Safe drinking water would seem to be a no brainer, but when we are in a political discourse that has made public spending on communities in need tantamount to wasted resources upon the undeserving, water—even water for children—is up for debate.

President Obama in the White House notwithstanding, basic government services have become the institutional equivalent of welfare queens. According to the conservatives, investing in our communities is not worth their hard-earned money. Government is a gated community where those who can afford it can access its “amenities.” Bailouts are for the rich. Ball outs and boot straps are for the poor.

Caught in the crossfire are millions of children that must make it through this unfathomable obstacle course of unfairness and somehow thrive. There will be no asterisk next to their grades or test scores that explain how exposure to lead or other dangerous chemicals may have affected their performance. There will be no kudos or bonus points for dodging bullets, unclean bathrooms and under stocked libraries on the way to graduation. And most parents will not even know what their children are exposed to because most districts are not required to report these conditions to parents at all.

The situation is not hopeless. Parents and students are fighting back and insisting that school sites are safe places where students can learn. In Seattle, Los Angeles and elsewhere, parents and trade unions are joining together to identify sites in need of repair, pushing for green buildings and replacing old pipes and wells.

These initiatives are important, but they must be accompanied by a national framework that monitors and enforces drinking water and other school site standards so that every child has a fair chance to succeed.

Makani Themba-Nixon is executive director of The Praxis Project, a nonprofit based in Washington, DC supporting community-based media and policy