Source: WCNC
A study by NC State shows schools across the state are more segregated now than in the 1980s. The study found that in 2021, 13.5% of the state’s public schools were intensely segregated schools of color. These schools also had high rates of free and reduced-price lunch recipients – nearly 83% – which indicated a further segregation based on poverty level.
Researchers behind the study say the state’s Republican-led voucher program for private schools and the recent growth in charter schools are largely to blame. The North Carolina Association of Educators found White students received more than 60% of the state’s private school vouchers last year even though they make up less than 40% of the population in schools statewide.
In the United States right now, almost half of Black and Hispanic students go to schools where all of their classmates are students of color. And schools with more than 90% students of color are five times more likely to be in low-income areas, research shows.
Brown v. Board of Education was expected to forever change the landscape of education across the United States. The ruling declared it unconstitutional to separate students into schools by race, laying the groundwork for desegregation across the country. But 70 years later, school segregation remains high—especially in North Carolina.
