Is school choice racist/discriminate?
Are charter schools or state-based scholarships "re-segregating?"
School choice equates to zip code and wealth desegregation.
In 1954, the US Supreme Court Case, Brown v. Board of Education, racially desegregated district schools by ruling that separate schools for black and white students was unconstitutional. And yet, schools are still segregated—not necessarily by race (though often it seems)—but certainly by zip code, and zip codes segregate according to wealth. School choice initiatives like public charter school options and the Opportunity Scholarship give low-income and working class families access to their school of choice, breaking free of the zip code and wealth segregation.
The most recent US Census statistics states that 22% of North Carolinians are black or African-Americans. 29% of 2018-19 Opportunity Scholarship recipients identify as black or African American—a larger representative population—suggesting that not only does parental school choice NOT re-segregate, it’s the best means to close the achievement gap.
Also, assigned school funding is tied to local property taxes. As such, schools in predominantly African-American neighborhoods receive less funding than their white counterparts, and are thus unable to provide kids in the community a quality education. Without access to quality education, minority black families are socioeconomically disinclined towards poverty, and the cycle continues. School segregation by zip code is enough to continue racial segregation, year after year.