In Indiana, school choice means segregation

Following Brown v. Board of Education, schools known as “segregation academies” that were created for the purpose of allowing White students to be educated without contact with Black students proliferated in the southern United States. While the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited such segregation, these schools remained in existence for decades. In this case study, Michael Shaffer and Bridget Dincher contend that the Choice Scholarship Program in Indiana, a school voucher program, re-creates the segregation academies. Data demonstrate that while White student percentages have climbed since the inception of the program, Black student percentages have declined sharply, creating a large number of schools that meet the definition of a segregated school. And because these schools are private, despite receiving government funds through the voucher program, students do not receive the same federal protections from discrimination that they do in traditional public schools.