A complaint to the federal Office of Civil Rights filed by the ACLU in Delaware alleges that publicly funded and privately managed charter schools in that state are resegregating the education system in violation of civil rights law.

Sound familiar? It’s not specifically what John Walker has argued in his federal lawsuit over the state takeover of the Little Rock School District, but there are parallels.

Advertisement

Most of the charter schools are racially identifiable in Delaware, the complaint said. The high-performing ones are identifiably white and the low-performing ones identifiably black. Writes ibtimes:

The complaint lands amid mounting data tying charter schools to segregation.

In 2010, for example, a University of Colorado report analyzing charter schools from across the country found that “as compared with the public school district in which the charter school resided, the charter schools were substantially more segregated by race, wealth, disabling condition and language.” Similarly, in reviewing a decade worth of research about charter schools, George Washington University education researcher Iris Rotberg earlier this year concluded that “charter schools often lead to increased school segregation … and lead to the stratification of students who were previously in integrated environments.”

Meanwhile, a General Accountability Office study in 2012 showed that “charter schools enrolled a lower percentage of students with disabilities than traditional public schools.”

The potential causes of segregation aren’t entirely clear. In the Delaware case, the groups blame charter schools’ admissions requirements for effectively promoting discrimination. 

Arkansas charters are open enrollment when privately operated and nominally use lotteries to choose students when oversubscribed. But it hasn’t stopped, for example, whiter, more prosperous oases in the majority black, majority impoverished Little Rock School District.

Advertisement

I wouldn’t be surprised if Delaware found some Walton-subsidized academics in Arkansas to rise to their defense on this complaint.

Help to Keep Great Journalism Alive in Arkansas

Join the fight for truth and become a subscriber of the Arkansas Times. We've been battling powerful forces for 50 years through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, our readers value great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing and supporting our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage. Together, we can continue to hold the powerful accountable and bring important stories to light. Subscribe now or donate for as little as $1 and be a part of the Arkansas Times community.

Previous article Report: Inmate killed attempting to escape from Varner Unit Next article Thursday and the line is open