Desegregation and schools: No easy answers

In 1971, in Charlotte, NC the court ruled that school districts may use busing, quotas and other methods to assure integration. Now in Wake County, the same issue is arising, some arguing that the program should remain which assigns students to schools based on levels of family income. However, the board voted against this policy. In 2000, the board decided to integrate its schools by income level rather than race. The board said that no more than 40 percent of students at a school should receive free or subsidized lunches. Under this plan, students appeared to be outperforming state averages on standardized tests. But, looking closer into the statistics, scores of black students were behind those of white students and poor students fared worse than the wealthier students, their graduation rates being lower than the state average. The chair of the board's reassignment committee believes the next step is for the county to be split into neighborhood zones and parents in poor zones can choose to send their children to schools in wealthier districts.