Charter Schools Are Increasingly Segregated

Charter schools, which educate 1.8 million U.S. children and are growing with significant philanthropic support, are increasingly segregated by race and ethnicity, writes Bloomberg.

The article looks at several academies in Minnesota, where the charter-school movement began, that are overwhelmingly attended by particular groups such as Somalis, Native Americans, and Hmong.

The trend is replicated nationally, according to a 2010 University of California, Los Angeles, study which found that students at charters—public schools run by private, often nonprofit entities—are more likely at attend “racially isolated” schools with minority populations of 90 percent or more.

Some expert argue that it’s like the Jim Crow schools of the past, before the Supreme Court ruled against having “separate but equal” schools for blacks and whites. But charter leaders and advocates say there is a stark difference.

“This is the parent’s choice,” said Abdulkadir Osman, executive director of the Dugsi Academy in St. Paul, which serves East African children in the Twin Cities. “They can go anywhere they want. We are offering families something unique.”