The News

Supreme Court to rule on school segregation

The BBC reported:

In the coming days, the justices are expected to decide on challenges to two programmes designed to ensure racial diversity in schools.

The cases - in Seattle and Louisville, Kentucky - reflect the fact that despite previous efforts by courts, many black and white schoolchildren in the US live and learn in different worlds.

The Supreme Court first outlawed school segregation in the landmark 1954 ruling Brown v Board of Education.

But as the white middle-classes fled to the suburbs, leaving black-dominated inner cities, local schools on each side remained largely immune to integration.

As a result, in the 1970s and 1980s, courts ordered some local authorities to set up “bussing” plans - ferrying children to distant public schools to ensure racial balance.

The Supreme Court has issued guidelines for these. But in schools that have never been - or are no longer - subject to court desegregation orders, school boards have in recent years set up their own schemes.

It is these programmes, put in place by elected bodies rather than judicial fiat, that the Supreme Court is now considering.

Can we trust local schools to do what’s best for children of color?

Posted at 12:44 PM, Jun 20, 2007 in Education | Permalink | View Comments