Grating Race-Conscious Student Assignment Plans in the Cauldron of Parents Involved v. Seattle School District
School districts today remain racially segregated partly due to vestiges of past discrimination and an expanded resegregation of our public schools. While the resegregation today remains mostly de facto, it still presents great dangers to race relations in our country if, from their impressionable years, students are not exposed to the benefits of diversity as part of an overall educational experience. As Chief Justice Warren noted in Brown v. Board of Education, “[s]eparate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Consequently, various school districts across the country have voluntarily adopted race-conscious plans in order to ensure a diverse educational experience for students. As revealed in our examination of Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and seven pre-Parents Involved cases, these voluntary plans have come under increasing attack. This has spurred great fears of legal repercussions in school administrators, leading them to abandon efforts to implement race-conscious plans or to dismantle those already in place. The media is not helping calm those fears either, and the misperception lingers that race-conscious plans are unconstitutional. If we are to diminish or reverse the growing trend of resegregation and ensure our students are educated in diverse schools, we must educate administrators and policymakers about the continued viability of race-conscious plans in schools. Our article is one step forward in that direction. Read More …