A new report from the Center for American Progress perpetuates the misguided notion that today’s school choice programs are synonymous with Jim Crow-era efforts to resist desegregation by providing white students with vouchers to attend private schools.
To be sure, we must not forget the troubling history of Jim Crow and the intentions of some white parents and politicians who opted to send their children to private schools rather than allow them to learn alongside black children.
But today’s school choice movement bears virtually no resemblance to these efforts more than a half-century ago. In fact, school choice is creating an integrated learning environment, thus turning these harmful policies on their head — by providing equal opportunity to a high-quality education for every child, especially the minority and low-income students who have historically been the victims of racism and inequity.
Click here to read the article on The Hill.