Despite the growing ideological divisions, there has been a surprising political convergence on some issues related to urban policy, social services, and housing. From the spread of charter schools and school choice to the expansion of home ownership through financial deregulation, it is apparent that liberals and conservatives agree. Yet these…

Although Americans tend to deal emotionally with the issue of school desegregation, it is largely an issue comprised of certain facts. Historically, government has played an active role in creating segregation, but segregation has a capacity to damage Black students. Busing is a safe, cheap, and necessary solution to this problem. (KH)

Discusses the role of mayors in school desegregation. Four cities are compared: San Francisco, Stockton, Merced, and Fresno. (Author/AM)

This paper discusses the potential of individual States for encouraging voluntary desegregation at the local level. Desegregation history and State strategies in five States--California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Washington--are closely examined. In all of the States studied, State laws provide the State agency with considerable…

This article is a general overview of desegregation. Discussion first centers on the weakening of desegregation by federal housing programs, school board policies and opportunistic politicians, and then proceeds to the relationship of desegregation and poverty. (Author)

Minority business set-asides must be more carefully scrutinized than they have been. To improve minority employment, the government should encourage all firms willing to employ minorities. (LHW)

This is the text of a United States Court of Appeals decision setting aside the order of a lower court to desegregate a New York City high school. The Court found that the segregation of the school was de facto, not de jure segregation, and that Federal judges are not authorized to impose a school desegregation plan where there has been no…

Proposes that voluntary interdistrict programs should be seriously considered as a major desegregation strategy. Reviews social, demographic, and legislative trends that support this proposal and describes conditions that are required for such programs to flourish. (GC)

The emerging judicial trend of requiring evidence of discriminatory intent rather than impact is close to ruling that the state can stand by and watch discriminatory practices as long as government officials do not encourage the practices. (Author/IRT)

Discusses developments in school integration from the early 1960's to the present, concludes that all that can be done on the national level is to distribute money and establish minimum standards. "Beyond that, Washington can only encourage state and local educators, working within their own political frameworks, to indentify the best way of…

Presents an overview of the federal role in the development of school desegregation policy, emphasizing the interactive nature of judicial, legislative, and executive involvement. Reviews the six articles in the theme issue. (FMW)

Hypothesizes that a student assignment plan, such as that approved for Boston (Massachusetts), can be an effective method of using school choice to achieve both educational quality and racial balance. Urges the federal government to increase funds for demonstration planning projects and comparative studies to test the plan's effectiveness. (FMW)

Presented here are the remarks of William Bradford Reynolds, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division at the Education Commission of the States National Project on Desegregation Strategies' Workshop. Reynolds states that mandatory busing and other remedial techniques to achieve racial balance in schools (measures tentatively sanctioned by…

Forced busing failed because it ultimately produced resegregation and drew attention away from questions of educational quality. The Reagan Administration and the federal courts have favored more flexible desegregation efforts--voluntary transfer programs, open enrollment, and magnet schools--that hold greater promise of producing equality of…