Black Flight
Published September 15th, 2006 in Black Education News.
While pundits and academics argue away, the quiet sucking sound you don’t yet hear are African-American families leaving our public schools when allowed to do so.
In Minneapolis, public school officials now admit that black flight is a serious problem; the district enrollment is projected to be down to 33,000, from 48,000 in 2000, a 30% decrease, largely due to black students escaping to charter schools. The Washington D.C. school district has lost 10,000 students in five years; 25% of D.C. students are now enrolled in charter schools. A Rand Corporation study of charter schools in Texas and California discovered that in both states black students are significantly more likely to move to charter schools than are white students. Although school choice opportunities are not necessarily snapped up instantly (growth in some voucher programs has been more gradual than originally expected), over time the momentum is unambiguously one of black flight away from public schools.
