TALKING POINTS: Diversity in Schools

History of School Desegregation cases up to date from the Los Angeles Times

Background on two Supreme Court voluntary school desegregation cases:

Louisville - Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 05-915)

• 30 years ago a federal judge ordered that Jefferson County impose a desegregation program, dissolving the order in 2000 after a judge ruled that integration had been successful. In 2001, the school district put a program in place to assure that diversity in schools would be maintained

Seattle – Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District, 05-908

• Race is considered as one of two tiebreakers when there are too many applicants to a particularly popular high school

Decision on two Supreme Court voluntary school desegregation cases:

On June 28, 2007, a divided Supreme Court issued decisions in two cases regarding whether public school districts in Seattle and Louisville can voluntarily use race-conscious measures to avoid racial isolation and promote racial diversity in their elementary and secondary schools

The Court struck down the specific policies used by the Louisville and Seattle communities, but ruled that educational diversity and combating segregation are compelling governmental interests that governments may pursue through careful race-conscious efforts.

• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
• Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

An Endorsement of Diversity and Inclusion:

A majority of the Court—Justices Kennedy, Breyer, Ginsburg, and Souter—agreed that promoting educational diversity and overcoming our history of segregation are “compelling governmental interests” that communities and governments can pursue through careful race-conscious means. Justice Kennedy—who wrote the controlling opinion for the Court—noted, for example:

• “If school authorities are concerned that the student-body compositions of certain schools interfere with the objective of offering an equal educational opportunity to all of their students, they are free to devise race-conscious measures to address the problem in a general way and without treating each student in different fashion solely on the basis of a systematic, individual typing by race.” (p.8).
• “In the administration of public schools by the state and local authorities it is permissible to consider the racial makeup of schools and to adopt general policies to encourage a diverse student body, one aspect of which is its racial composition.” (p.8)
• “[A]s an aspiration, Justice Harlan’s axiom [that our Constitution is “colorblind”] must command our assent. In the real world, it is regrettable to say, it cannot be a universal constitutional principle.” (p.8)
• “The enduring hope is that race should not matter; the reality is that it too often does.” (p.7)

Numerous Alternatives Remain Available:

A majority of the Court made clear that a range of other, affirmative measures remain available to pursue integration and inclusion in our schools. As Justice Kennedy said in his controlling opinion:

• “School boards may pursue the goal of bringing together students of diverse backgrounds and races through other means, including strategic site selection of new schools; drawing attendance zones with general recognition of the demographics of neighborhoods; allocating resources for special programs; recruiting students and faculty in a targeted fashion; and tracking enrollments, performance, and other statistics by race.” (p.8) (emphasis added).

In addition to the options outlined in Justice Kenney’s opinion:

• A number of civil rights laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, still require schools to avoid segregation or exclusion of students by race.
  
• And the courts still have the authority, and the responsibility, to require integration efforts when they find—as in too many schools around the country—that there has been a history of discrimination or segregation.
  

The Importance of Diverse and Inclusive Schools:

The Court made clear that diverse and inclusive schools are important to the future of our country, and communities have a clear stake in overcoming the isolation and marginalization of their children.

• A majority of the Court correctly held that it is vital that we teach our kids how to learn together, play together, and solve problems together in an increasingly diverse world.
• A majority of the Court strongly endorsed the importance of local communities building schools that reflect our nation’s highest values; teaching our kids to live together, learn together, and play together in an increasingly diverse world. That’s good for our kids, and it’s good for our country. And it’s fully consistent with our Constitution.
• This decision recognizes that we’re all connected in our country, and that our fates are linked. The better we know and understand each other, the better we can live and work together, and the stronger our country will become.

NEWS COVERAGE AND ANALYSIS:

NEWS:

“Use of Race in School Placement Curbed” (by David Stout, New York Times, 6/28/07)

“Courts Limit Use of Race to Achieve Diversity in Schools” (by Robert Barnes, Washington Post, 6/28/07)

“Divided Court Rejects School Diversity Plans” (by Bill Mears, CNN, 6/28/07)

“Supreme Court Rejects School Race Plans” (by Mark Sherman, The Guardian Unlimited, 6/28/07)

“United Around Racial Diversity” (Christian Science Monitor, 6/29/07)

“Can Schools Still Achieve Diversity?” (by Reynolds Holding, Time Magazine, 6/28/07)

“Brown Fades to Black” (by Ward Harkavy, Village Voice, 6/28/07)

NPR Coverage

ORGANIZATIONS:

“National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights Denounces Supreme Court Rulings: Court Rules Against Efforts to End Racial Isolation in Public Schools” (EarthTimes.Org, 6/28/07 – NCRCR Press Release

“AJC: Supreme Court Ruling on School Integration Troubling” (American Jewish Committee, 6/28/07)

“ADL Encouraged By Supreme Court's Recognizing Racial Diversity As a Compelling Interest in Public Education” (Anti-Defamation League, 6/28/07)

“Statement from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on the Supreme Court’s Rulings in Seattle and Louisville Cases” (NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 6/28/07)

“Supreme Court Rules in School Diversity Cases” (by Tyler Lewis, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 6/28/07)

“Supreme Court Decision Recognizes Value of Diversity in Public Education (by Linda Embrey, National School Boards Association, 6/28/07)

BLOGS:

• SCOTUS Blog (SCOTUS is “Supreme Court of the United States”)
• Crooks and Liars Blog
• National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights
• Legal Momentum, Advancing Women’s Rights
• Supreme Court School Integration Blog
• The Spamwise Chronicles SCOTUS watch

Link to Mainstream Media Project’s release last November when the cases were being considered:

http://www.mainstream-media.net/alerts/alert_pitch.cfm?id=227

Mainstream Media Project blog of talking points and media resources from November, 2006:

http://goctalkingpoints.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html

http://gocresources.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html