Tag: re-segregation

Forsyth County: A case study in school re-segregation and the illusions of “choice”

July 2, 2012 at 12:59 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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Reporter Travis Fain had an interesting story in the Winston-Salem Journal yesterday about the re-segregation of Forsyth County’s schools that has occurred in recent decades and the illusion that “school choice” can somehow provide a remedy for this situation. Wake County and others that have not already become fully resegregated themselves should pay attention.

Here’s a powerful passage:

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system used to bus students across town to balance the schools. But the U.S. Supreme Court struck down those tactics in a series of decisions in the 1990s. Locally, busing was phased out starting in 1995 in favor of “choice zones,” which allow parents to choose from among multiple schools.

Racial resegregation quickly accelerated in the schools and led to concentrated poverty in certain schools. Read More…

National study: Good schools a key to home values

April 20, 2012 at 8:19 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Not that it comes as much of a surprise, but another national study has confirmed what advocates for maintaining school intregration in Wake County have been saying for years: good schools drive up home values.

According to the Brookings Institution as reported by CNN: “Home values are $205,000 higher, on average, in neighborhoods with high-scoring public schools versus schools with low scores.” 

In other words, Wake County’s longstanding reputation as being a place in which “there are no bad schools” is an enormous boon to real estate values and overall economic wellbeing throughout the county. To the extent the powers that be (like Superintendent Tata and the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce) continue allow the gradual re-segregation of schools by income, they are sure to bring about a widespread decline in home values in many areas and a rapidly expanding gap between various sections of the county.