Wake schools work to fight re-segregation

In the face of growing school resegregation caused by the explosion of charter schools and private school vouchers — as well as the aftereffects of institutional policies such as redlining — the Wake County school board is making a commitment to make school enrollments more racially and socioeconomically diverse.

• District-wide, a total of 38% of Wake County students receive free or reduced lunch. However, nearly half of Wake County schools have free/reduced lunch rates of either below 18% or higher than 58%. The district hopes to reduce that disparity.
• Because local funding for schools is allocated largely based on property taxes, that means students in wealthy areas fare much better than schools in low-income areas. This is unfair to students.
• The explosion of charter schools and private school vouchers has led to a growing number of high poverty schools and unhealthy learning environments. Charter schools have been shown to be racially disproportionate to their districts, and only exacerbate racial and economic segregation in our public schools.

The quality of a student’s education shouldn’t be decided by their zip code, family income, or skin color. All students deserve a chance to succeed, and this commitment will help ensure that.