School segregation persists 70 years after Brown v. Board
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Friday is the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that made segregation policies in public schools illegal, but racial segregation continues to grow in U.S. schools, including in Seattle.
Why it matters: In 1978, Seattle became the first major city in the nation to actively integrate its schools, but as the Seattle Times reported last year, Seattle's schools are more racially segregated now than they were in the 1980s.
- That report also found significant disparities in resources and student outcomes persist between schools in the north and south ends, a divide rooted in historic redlining.
Flashback: Seattle began a mandatory busing program in 1972 that brought students across the city to integrate schools.
- The effort followed 1966's Seattle school boycott, in which thousands of students protested racial segregation in schools.
- Mandatory busing ended in the 1990s, and was replaced by a policy in which students could apply to attend any school in the district they wanted; for schools in high demand, race was used as one of several tiebreakers to determine enrollment.
Friction point: The tiebreaker policy brought greater racial equity to the school district, but came to an end in 2007, after challenges from white parents and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in their favor.
What we're watching: Seattle Public Schools is planning to close 20 elementary schools due to a budget shortfall, and the teachers union has raised concerns about how the closures will impact racial equity in the district in the future.
- The school district is holding a series of community meetings to discuss the planned closures on May 25, May 28, June 1 and June 4.