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PRRAC Update (November 12, 2015): Magnet school program threatened; gentrification and charters; annual appeal

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Restore funding for magnet schools!  PRRAC joined the National Coalition on School Diversity in a letter to Congress urging restoration of funding for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program in the final budget bill.  You can express your support for restored magnet school funding here – but act quickly, time is short!

Charter schools and gentrification:  Phil Tegeler from PRRAC and Halley Potter from the Century Foundation co-authored an article in Shelterforce magazine this week reviewing recent research on the impact of charter schools in demographically changing neighborhoods and communities.

Other events and resources

 

Webinar on LIHTC reform:  Join Connecticut’s Open Communities Alliance to learn how advocates in a state with a highly segregated LIHTC program can work to achieve more geographic balance for participating families with children.  Like many states, Connecticut has some token “opportunity” language in its state LIHTC plan that is too weak to effectively direct investment to low poverty, high opportunity communities.  The webinar will include presentations by Adam Gordon of the Fair Share Housing Center in New Jersey, Ingrid Gould Ellen of the NYU Furman Center, and Erin Boggs of the Open Communities Alliance.  Register here.

Challenging school segregation in Minnesota:  Advocates have filed a lawsuit in state court challenging increasing school segregation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, and the state educational policies that contribute to racial and economic segregation.   You can read about the case in the Star-Tribune, and see a copy of the complaint and plaintiffs’ statement here.

Fisher v. University of Texas:  The briefs have been filed in Fisher II, the continuing challenge to the use of race in the University of Texas’ holistic admissions policy.  In Fisher I (2013) the Supreme Court reaffirmed the basic holding of the Grutter case, permitting consideration of race in university admissions, but articulated a more refined standard of review, remanding the case to the District Court. The case is now back at the  Supreme Court to determine whether the lower courts properly applied the new standard (the plaintiffs continue to argue that no race conscious considerations should be permitted).  Arguments will be held on December 9th.  Of particular interest: the amicus brief filed by the UCLA Civil Rights Project “on behalf of 823 social scientists,” and an amicus brief filed “on behalf of 53 Current Members of the Texas State Senate and House of Representatives.” (PRRAC also joined an amicus brief highlighting the international human rights precedents for consideration of race in college admissions)