Supreme Court could threaten Evanston's racial balance policy

By: Natalie Y. MooreFor two decades, Evanston public schools have maintained a racial and ethnic balance by making sure no one racial or ethnic group is more than 60 percent of a school’s total population.

But an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision may threaten that practice.

Already the court has heard oral arguments on behalf of Parents Involved in Community Schools, a nonprofit group that is challenging a racial balancing policy in Seattle. The group doesn’t want the Seattle school district to deny children admission to their high school preference solely because of their race. The Supreme Court is considering another case involving a similar policy for the school district in Jefferson County, Ky.

If the justices rule that the racial balancing policies in Seattle or Jefferson County are unconstitutional, this may affect magnet school selection and the student assignment process in the Evanston/Skokie Community Consolidated School District 65, said Superintendent Hardy Murphy. Officials don’t know what the next step would be in that scenario.

“I’m awaiting the Supreme Court decision just like everyone else to see where we are heading next,” said Murphy. “I think everyone would have to admit that integration has benefited our country and our community in a number of significant ways, and I think it’s a very important question for [the U.S. Supreme Court] to decide.”

In the spirit of the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 decision in the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka case, which outlawed segregated schools, urban public school districts have used racial balancing policies to prevent segregation.

But some critics think these policies have gone too far.

In Evanston, a desegregation plan was put in place in 1967. But the schools were predominately white, and by 1979 declining enrollment caused schools to close, including a predominantly black elementary school.

During the mid-1980s, the district came up with the 60-percent guideline. Race is also among the selection criteria for students attending magnet schools and for those receiving permissive transfers within the district.

Murphy said racial balance is important because schools can be a model for transforming the larger community into what it should be.

“It’s important just in this whole spirit of embracing diversity as a way of life and helping students to understand each other and hopefully then develop a sense of community where people of all backgrounds, races, creeds and colors can live together in the spirit of harmony,” Murphy said.