Forty-four years after the desegregation of its public schools, Boston has once again failed to create a school assignment plan that provides equal access to quality education for low-income students. In fact, as a recent study commissioned by Boston Public Schools details, the current home-based assignment plan has led to an increase in inequality.
Will the city’s leaders start addressing the real problems or once again simply rearrange the chairs on the deck of the Titanic?
Assuming the positive intentions of our leaders, a good first step would be to start asking the right questions. The first question should be why Boston parents, in collaboration with the NAACP, brought the 1972 lawsuit that charged the city with racial discrimination in the public schools? The answer shows us that it was less about integration and more about having schools their children could attend that would ensure equity in the resources available for their education.