Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
Twin Cities school segregation is at its very worst in the large and growing charter school sector
"The price of allowing segregation to grow unchecked has been our state's greatest shame. Minnesota has developed some of the nation's largest racial gaps," the writer says. Above, a school bus outside the Minnesota State Capitol in February 2020.
School segregation has been a 25-year catastrophe for Minnesota's children.
In the 21st century, at least 100,000 Black and brown schoolchildren in the Twin Cities have been deprived of the chance to attend integrated schools because the state's school integration policy was gutted in 1999. Segregation could have been avoided here as it was avoided in Portland and Seattle, places with similar school demographics.
These segregated schools ruined children's educational and economic opportunities. They achieved much less academically. Because of this segregation, many more dropped out. Many fewer went to colleges. Those that did were disproportionately likely to enroll in less rigorous institutions, like for-profit community colleges. Because of this segregation, they earned lower incomes as adults. They were more likely to end up in jail. Their health was worse. In the end, these 100,000 are much more likely than their peers to emerge as the most economically disadvantaged members of society - whereupon the cycle will likely repeat with their own children.
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