Hosted by The Center for
Education Reform
Hosted by The Center for
Education Reform
RACE DISCRIMINATION IN ARIZONA: IT'S HAPPENING, JUST NOT WHERE YOU THINK IT'S
HAPPENING
By Jeffry Flake
Goldwater Institute, July 9, 1998
A poor Hispanic child with more dreams than money stands outside the classroom, his face pressed against the glass, watching his well-heeled white colleagues discuss where their college prep classes will take them. He’d like to get in, but the school won’t let him because he’s the wrong color.
Sound far-fetched? It isn’t. In fact, this scene might be played out in a number of locations in Arizona this year. Given recent press coverage, you might think that it’s happening in Arizona’s charter schools. It isn’t. In fact, any charter school that refuses enrollment based on race will have its charter yanked faster than you can say Goldberg & Osborne. No, this type of race discrimination is happening in our traditional district schools. Ironically, it’s called "desegregation."
The Phoenix Union High School District (PUHSD) operates 14 magnet programs. If you like airplanes, you might want to try the "Center for Aerospace Education." If you’ve worn out your Little Mermaid video, you might want to check out the "Center for Marine Science." If you’d rather ride a horse than go to school, chances are you can do both at the "Center for Agribusiness and Equine Science."
Of course, if you want to be assured entrance into any of these programs, it helps to be talented in your area of interest. Some of these magnets have entrance exams. It helps even more, however, to be white. You see, these programs are designed to give white kids living in the district a reason to stay in PUHSD, and to bolster the district’s white count by luring kids of the desired color from outside the district.
This type of sanctioned race discrimination is galling on several counts. First, there is the explicit notion that if you are not white, the only way you can receive a good education is to sit next to a white child. Believe it or not, this sentiment still has adherents in high places. ASU Professor Gene Glass recently told the Arizona Republic: "The only hope for marginalized students is to hold a middle-class white kid hostage in that classroom. Then all the political and economic power of the parent will be brought to bear to make sure that the class has good materials." I guess they don’t call universities ivory towers for nothing.
Second, if it isn’t insulting enough to be told that you have to sit next to a white child in order to be properly educated, consider the following: If you are a black or Hispanic parent living within PUHSD, your locally assessed district taxes are being used to lure white kids into programs at your local school which, unless the quota gods happen to be smiling on you, your own children cannot attend. Talk about adding insult to injury! And we’re not talking peanuts or federal dollars here. Over the past 10 years, local taxpayers in PUHSD have coughed up approximately $250 million dollars to run these magnet programs.
Believe it or not, it gets even sillier. Consider this hypothetical example: David and Frank are freshmen attending Mountain Pointe High School in Ahwatukee, outside the boundaries of PUHSD. Both are straight-A students and both are involved in the community. Both like drama. In fact, both like drama so much that they would like to enroll in the "Performing Arts" magnet school at PUHSD’s South Mountain High School. There’s only one problem: David is white and Frank is black, and there are already "too many" blacks at South Mountain. It is likely that David will not have a problem getting in because he is white. It is also likely that Frank won’t get in because he is black. You see, in the Orwellian world of desegregation orders, the black students at South Mountain will gain more educationally by sitting next to David than they will by sitting next to Frank.
I wondered how PUHSD pitched their magnet programs to out of district students, so I called the district and asked if my child would have any problem getting into the "international baccalaureate" program. "No problem," I was told. "In fact, the only way you might have a problem getting in is if you are a minority."
Just as PUHSD controls which students come in, they control which students go out. If, for example, you want to attend a charter school but happen to live within a PUHSD school boundary that "needs" your particular ethnicity, tough luck. To be fair, there is one method of escape at PUHSD that seems to be race-neutral, although it is quite painful. Just let your grades slip to unacceptable levels. If you do, PUHSD has a policy that allows you out, regardless of your race. Sadly, it seems that the only way to be judged by the content of your character at PUHSD is to be of low academic character.
You might be wondering how PUHSD officials defend the indefensible. It’s easy. They blame the courts. "We know this all looks pretty silly", they might say, "but we’re under this darn desegregation order, and, well, there’s just not anything we can do about it." Sounds plausible, until you realize that federal courts actually lifted the order two years ago. It was PUHSD (the defendant in the original desegregation suit) who rushed to the judge and begged not to be thrown out of the brier patch. The court relented, and the desegregation order still stands. The real issue, of course, is money. The desegregation order allows PUHSD to levy a desegregation tax without voter approval. With desegregation expenditures accounting for one-quarter of PUHSD’s budget, the district is not about to kill this goose.
So, next time you hear that some schools in Arizona practice race discrimination, believe it. It’s just not happening where you think it’s happening.
###
Jeffry Flake is executive director of the Goldwater Institute.
CER Home Page
The Education Forum About
Charter Schools E-Mail
CER