A new study of racial segregation in North Carolina shows that 30% of regular public schools are racially imbalanced, but 60% of charter schools are.
These findings echo the work of the UCLA Civil Rights Project, which has found that charter schools are frequently even more segregated than their surrounding district.
In Georgia, there are charter schools that are overwhelmingly white in districts where there are hardly any white students in the public schools. The Pataula Charter in Calhoun County is 75% white, but the local schools are only 2% white.
The first question is whether charter schools will become the new name for segregation academies?
The second question is why our society has turned its back on racial integration?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Dear Diane,
We have the same concern.
Save Our Schools NJ Statement on School Choice Week
This week, there will be a concerted national effort to use the idea of parental school choice to advance an entirely different agenda.
We want to remind our legislators and those marketing school choice that legitimate school choices:
• Ensure every child has access to a high-quality public school education;
• Do not segregate or discriminate against our children on the basis of income, English proficiency, special needs, race, gender, religion or sexual preference;
• Are transparent in the sources and uses of their funding and in their educational outcomes;
• Are democratically controlled by local communities.
Unfortunately, what is being promoted by “choice” advocates does not come even close to meeting these standards.
Vouchers arose in Southern states during the 1960s, as a method of perpetuating segregation. To prevent children of color from attending their all-white schools, some districts actually closed those public schools and issued vouchers to parents that were only good at privately segregated schools, known as segregation academies.
The more recent history of voucher use in other states confirms that they continue to increase segregation.
Unfortunately, many charter schools have the same segregating effect.
For example, the recent Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) study of New Jersey charter schools found that New Jersey’s traditional public schools served four and a half times as many students with Limited English Proficiency and one and a half times as many special-needs students as did the charter schools. Rutgers Professor Bruce Baker has documented that this segregation also includes income, with charter schools serving a wealthier population of students than comparable traditional public schools.
New Jersey Department of Education statistics confirm that a number of New Jersey charter schools are also segregated by race and ethnicity.
Until school choice advocates can ensure that greater options for some parents do not equal more segregation for all of our children, their claims of looking out for the needy do not ring true.
Joining an all-white country club is also a choice, but not one that we would ever support.
——-
Save Our Schools NJ is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization of parents and other concerned residents whose more than 10,000 members believe that all NJ children should have access to a high quality public education.
I home schooled my son with the public charter school. To do this I had to work weekends as a nurse while concentrating on my son Monday- Friday. Every parent can do this. If all parents are not…how is that racist. So sick of the racial card. If I could do it as a single mom than anyone can. The virtual charter school is free..computer included so your article is very misleading. Problem is people do not want to work for anything any more..scream racist and let every one else come up with a solution.
Forget the racist angle. Virtual charters are right for very few children. They supply inferior education to most.
Also from Save our Schools:
Be sure to record or watch Melissa Harris Perry today on MSNBC at 10:00 Eastern interview Journey For Justice before hearing in D.C. With Civil Rights Div of U.S.Ed. Today
Now how do you excuse this? If this example is not obvious I wonder what the level of insanity is to show how out of balance it is there.
Lots of things are “inexcusable,” yet you excuse them all the time. Why do you find this particular imbalance “inexcusable,” and, more importantly, how would you correct it?
I am not sure NC was ever as far along on integration as thought–even in 1991 my high school had both a black Homecoming court and a white Homecoming court. It seems to me that when lawmakers insisted students be placed together with integration that an extra measure to ensure better results would have been (still can be) more co-teaching by teachers of various races. At the core (no pun intended) problems trickling down still from integration and segregation stem from cultural differences. “Common Culture” might be a better topic for working through struggles in the south. Balanced numbers among students don’t mean much if the numbers (racially) among educators are not balanced. I have heard it takes four generations to erase culture clashes. And so the conversation continues. I am not sure there can be any authority on the subject. I wonder.
Joanna, it was far worse when segregation was complete and mandated.
The good news, then, is that in being the second generation since integration, things are still not great, but better. So my grand children’s generation might have a smooth system in place. And that is what we’re striving for! I still think a bigger push for well diversified staff is important.
The striving for integration MUST continue. Many have abandoned it. That is wrong.
Is there a similar study or information pertaining to this related to the effects in Florida?
Millie, I don’t know of a similar study of Florida charters. Look at the website of the UCLA Civil Rights Project.