Forum on Public Policy When Minorities are the Majority / A Challenge to Desegregation, the Challenge for Public Education (Minneapolis, A Case Study)

Fifty years after the U.S. Supreme Court held in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional the children in America’s urban school districts attend schools that predominantly are racial-isolated. In Minneapolis, the student profile is in stark contrast with the racial demographic of the city’s residents. Where 86 % of the population is white, 70 % of the school children are of color. Indeed, 31 % reside in homes where ninety languages, not including English, are spoken. Within this context, desegregation, as it is traditionally defined, is as conceptually anachronistic as it is impossible to achieve. This paper examines the assumptions of desegregation and argues that desegregation, as assumed in Brown, can no longer be the conditional precedent to a quality education. It concludes that where resources are limited, white middle class students are few in number, and government is reluctant to advance the legacy of Earl Warren-- the Chief Justice who delivered the Brown decision-- urban school districts like Minneapolis are challenged to provide a quality education in racial isolation. Rather than expending resources on achieving racial balance, more investment must be made in providing equitable access to academic opportunity and professional development.