ProPublica twists history to smear school vouchers that could end segregation
November 20, 2024
ProPublica is very concerned. It has found something that is, as the cool kids say, problematic. Another way of describing this is that any old argument is being used to oppose school vouchers, absolutely anything.
Private schools across the South that were established for white children during desegregation are now benefiting from tens of millions in taxpayer dollars flowing from rapidly expanding voucher-style programs, a ProPublica analysis found.
In North Carolina alone, we identified 39 of these likely “segregation academies” that are still operating and that have received voucher money.
“Segregation academies” were set up so that it was possible to have schools that were not desegregated. Private schools, that charged tuition, did not have to obey the same rules as public schools. Until the Supreme Court ruled in 1976 (Runyon v. McCrary) that this also wasn’t acceptable. So, “segregation academies” as actual examples of segregation have been illegal for half a century now.
Therefore, ProPublica is casting shade on school vouchers. By saying, “These bad things here benefit,” it’s possible to create opposition, obviously. Which is what they’re doing. Even though those bad things are historic and not current.
Certain school districts are unweighted in their student bodies, yes. Significant portions of the students at those former academies, now private schools, are white and the public schools more minority weighted. This is not, though, direct segregation — it’s economic. As we all do think that segregation is a bad thing we might want to do something about this. Like, say, remove the economic barrier that allows that segregation. From Wikipedia:
Most of these schools remain overwhelmingly white institutions, both because of their founding ethos and because tuition fees are a barrier to entry. In communities where many or most white students are sent to these private schools, the percentages of African-American students in tuition-free public schools are correspondingly elevated.
So, if all students receive a voucher for their full cost of education then the barrier to integration will fall. For it’s not an economic barrier, something we shall overcome, not a legal one any more.
But ProPublica would prefer to complain about school vouchers because, to ProPublica, school vouchers are wrong. The complaint is that segregation of the schools – despite vouchers being the solution to that segregation. Well, that’s what we get when woke and progressive media starts to write articles starting from the point of being woke and progressive. Finding something to complain about over vouchers rather than realising vouchers overcome the very problem being complained of.
The very people school vouchers benefit are the poor, overlooked and currently badly educated. That’s why it’s worth supporting them, obviously. Even if that’s problematic to the progressives.