Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Mirage of School Choice

A client we had been representing in a special education case called recently to say that she and her daughter no longer needed our services. While the case had been proceeding in a reasonably expeditious fashion, she had ­become increasingly frustrated with the legal system. Instead, she moved her family out of the district and into what she labeled a “white school.” According to our client, this change in schools meant that “my daughter is finally receiving what she needs.” Aware that race could be a sensitive subject, she lowered her voice and added, “I hate to say it, but it’s true.”

It has been more than 60 years since Brown v. Board of Education was decided, and we still hear parents use the terms “black” and “white” to characterize the schools where their child is educated. This is not surprising. Studies show that school segregation today is the same, if not worse, than it was in 1968. One study even found that as many as 92 percent of students in the United States attend racially-and ­socio-economically homogenous schools.