Dive Brief:

• Jefferson County Public Schools, which encompasses the Louisville metropolitan area, has remained more economically and racially integrated than many urban districts, even after the courts stopped requiring it, but the state legislature might change that.
• The Washington Post reports Republicans in the Kentucky House of Representatives approved a bill that would require the district to return to a neighborhood schools model, where students attend the school closest to their house instead of being bused to maintain balance of diversity across the district.
• Republicans also have a majority in the Senate, where similar bills have been passed before, and in Louisville, residents have been frustrated by the fact that a party which prizes local control would force a new system on people who continue to vote in favor of the existing one.

Dive Insight:

As a whole, U.S. schools today are more segregated than they were in the 1970s. Aggressive reorganization plans after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling created the foundation for more integrated schools, but once districts no longer had court orders to keep mixing students, they stopped.

Those who oppose integration efforts often advocate for a neighborhood schools model, which is virtually guaranteed to increase segregation. Systemic racism contributes to segregated neighborhoods, and while redlining may no longer be official policy, certain families are still steered away from certain areas. In a neighborhood schools model, no matter how diverse an entire district is, the schools will only reflect the narrow boundaries of a neighborhood.