Growing Charter School Segregation and the Need for Integration in Light of Obama’s Race to the Top Program

This Article contends that increasing the number of charter schools across the United States per the Obama administration’s RTT initiative is not the answer to closing the racial and economic achievement gap, at least not without significantly more accountability and oversight. Part II describes the RTT initiative and its promotion of more charter schools. This Article suggests that advocating for charter schools may be problematic without proper supervision put in place by the government. Charter schools are privately managed schools that receive public funding, yet they are exempt from some rules that all other taxpayer-funded schools must abide by that are “designed to protect students, families, communities, and taxpayers.” Part III summarizes the history and evidence of segregation in charter schools while also arguing that segregation has negatively impacted student achievement. Part IV explores New Orleans’ decision to become an all charter school district as a case study that highlights the issues described in Part III. Part V proposes that the federal government put an emphasis on integration by prohibiting subjective admissions policies for charter schools and by implementing a more effective system to monitor charter schools’ compliance with civil rights regulations