Schools and Race

That's the topic at the Supreme Court today: are school districts justified - and more importantly, within their legal boundaries - when they design programs to promote racial integration. In this particular instance, the school districts of Louisville, Kentucky and Seattle, Washington have been sued for denying children their first choice of school, a decision which their parents allege is based on their race.

Here are the specifics of the Louisvile plan (via the Washington Post) and how it led to the lawsuit:

...It requires elementary school parents to rank their preferences from among a group of schools in their geographic area. In more than 90 percent of the cases, officials say, parents and students get their first or second choice. If not, they can apply for a transfer. But the Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, where African Americans make up 34 percent of the student body, wants to limit the black student population of each school to no less than 15 percent and no more than 50 percent. So in 2002, Joshua McDonald's kindergarten transfer was denied because it would have reduced the number of white students at the school to which he was assigned.

What do you think?