Newsweek, June 21, 2017
It is no secret that the promise of the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education has never been fully fulfilled. Though that ruling struck down the doctrine of separate-but-equal schooling, it did not provide concrete means to enforce equality or integration. That task fell to lower federal courts, which during the late 1960s and early ‘70s ordered districts to erase longstanding disparities.
Now, according to a new report by the education not-for-profit EdBuild, those efforts are being reversed around the nation by municipalities seeking “community control” by secession from larger school districts. Those breakaway districts tend to be wealthier and whiter than the ones they leave behind.