Saturday, September 26, 2009

Schools look for balance after race-based decisions banned -- chicagotribune.com


Schools look for balance after race-based decisions banned -- chicagotribune.com:

"The district, which welcomed the ruling, is now leaning toward basing admissions on socioeconomic factors, such as median income of students' neighborhoods. That is similar to what San Francisco did when a consent decree on integration was lifted there in 2005.

The impact of U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras' opinion on Thursday will mostly be felt in Chicago's roughly 75 magnet and selective schools, where racial quotas until this week meant a minimum of 65 percent of seats in a given school were reserved for minorities. Up to 35 percent were set aside for whites, even though they now are down to 8 percent of the student population."

The case began nearly 29 years ago, when the U.S. government sued the Chicago Public Schools for discriminating against black and Hispanic students. The district agreed to follow a racial integration plan overseen by the courts.