Page 44 - CLT041221

44 ¦ APRIL 12, 2021 CLOSING ARGUMENT

EDITORIAL BOARD

Attempting to Take Racism Out of Our
School Policies

T Connecticut State Capitol building in Hartford, CT. Photo by Michael Marciano
his past year has seen some progress in re- the school had to maintain at least 25% of the
ducing the use of “race” in education. seats for white and Asian students. If there were
In Hartford, the state was being sued not enough white and Asian applicants to fill
by a group of Hartford parents who had grown the school to meet the required percentage mix,
increasingly frustrated by hav- those unfilled seats would re-
ing their children be excluded main empty in order not to
from attending magnet schools. upset the percentage integra-
Their frustration stemmed Is an income-based lottery tion ratio.
from the formula being applied This meant that for ev-
to keep schools from being “ra- system any better than a ery unfilled white or Asian
cially isolated.” race-based one aimed at seat, three minority students
would be denied admittance.
When more students ap- student integration?

plied for admission than there One result would be that in
were openings, a lottery system some schools, there would be
would be used to allocate the Black and Hispanic students
seats in the school. In schools with a high per- who would be told that although they had won
centage of Black and Hispanic minority students, the lottery seat, they couldn’t go to the magnet

CONNECTICUT
Law Tribune