This paper builds on previous research by exploring how the combination of white in-migration and recent school reform has affected the relationship between the formation, adoption, and implementation of educational policy in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district (North Carolina) and the district's African American citizens. The unexpected defeat of a school bond package in 1995 called attention to the need to understand the political and social climates affecting public attitudes toward education. A look at the school district's history and at the voting patterns in school bond referenda in the last 10 years shows that at the same time as there is evidence of a drift toward resegregation in the school district, concern with that topic has moved out of the public debate. In addition, since the initiation of the district's magnet plan and school reform agenda, there has been a sharp decline in the percentage of blacks who vote in favor of school bonds. The city's "growth machine" and, to some extent, the energy of civic leaders have become focused on other issues. There is reason to fear that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg district may become resegregated, and that change may go largely unmarked in public discourse. (Contains 2 tables, 3 figures, and 45 references.) (SLD)