On May 17, 1954, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court handed down the momentous decision of Brown v Board of Education.  African Americans couldn’t vote in most places in those days.  Interracial marriage was illegal.  Lynchings were slowing, but still occurring.  Yet the Supreme Court said that little African American children deserved the same education as whites.  Ironically, the Brown decision overturned Plessy v Ferguson, which had established ‘separate but equal’ for the prior 60 years, dating to 1896.

That is quite a few generations where African-Americans couldn’t get a fair shake just to attend school!

It is important to pause here and reflect that a Supreme Court decision, a unanimous one at that, still didn’t change the educational prospects for African American students.  In 1957 the Arkansas governor sent the state National Guard to block Little Rock Central High School from letting African American students attend.  Also in 1957, the Florida legislature passed a law purporting to nullify Brown.  And more memorable to some, in 1963 (almost a full decade after Brown), Governor George Wallace of Alabama personally stood in the doorway to block two African-American college kids from attending school.

Prince Edward County, Va., may have had the most melodramatic response.  In 1959, faced with desegregation, the county stopped appropriating money for public schools rather than admit African American children.  The schools stayed closed for 6 years.

Closer to home and almost 30 years after Brown, in 1980, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the St. Louis Public School Board of Education and the State of Missouri were responsible for maintaining a segregated school system.  In 1981, the Appeals Court directed that a voluntary interdistrict plan be worked out between the city and the county schools in order to facilitate student transfers.  In 1983, a Settlement Agreement was reached with all school districts in the St. Louis metropolitan area that included multiple components, including the transfer of African-American city students into primarily white suburban districts. 

Transportation and tuition costs were fully paid by the State of Missouri.  The preliminary goal was for participating county districts to achieve a 25 percent African-American student population.  In order to achieve this goal, a voluntary interdistrict transfer program was established in order to supervise the implementation of the metropolitan area desegregation program, with responsibilities for facilitating student transfers. 

Until 1999, the transfer process coordinated by the interdistrict transfer program worked as follows:  Each January, county school districts submitted to the transfer corporation their number of available slots in various schools and grades within the district.  Between January and August of each year, the transfer corporation received applications delineating the city students’ preferred choices for transfer to county schools.  Transfers were awarded based on certain criteria: first priority was given to students with siblings already participating in the program; early applicants were given priority over later applicants; if a student did not receive a transfer in the first year of application, those students were given priority placement the following year.  Most students were given a choice of three schools to which they could transfer.

At the program’s zenith, approximately 13,000 city students attended schools in varying St. Louis County districts by means of the transfer program – I was one of those students.  For those transfer students, the state paid the county districts the full cost of education and transportation costs.  The county schools were paid these full tuition payments directly, not through the formula.  The St. Louis City schools were also paid for those students who were no longer attending by means of the foundation formula and Prop C payments. 

One General Assembly Joint Committee report 1 from 1997 referred to these students as “Phantom students in St. Louis” and calculated that over $20.7 million in formula and Prop C monies were being directed to the St. Louis Public Schools annually for students who were attending county schools.  While these “phantom payments” were described negatively in the Joint Committee report, it is relevant to circumstances today, as recent news articles have highlighted the fact that Normandy and Riverview Gardens will be required to pay receiving districts an estimated $30 million in tuition for transfer students this year.  School leaders in Normandy and Riverview Gardens assert that it's only a matter of time before they go bankrupt under this arrangement.

One of the reasons that the desegregation transferred worked (at least logistically) is that adequate financial incentives were in place for both the receiving and sending districts to participate in the transfer program.  While there have been preliminary discussions among DESE leaders of asking the General Assembly for a supplemental appropriation in order to assist these school districts in paying the costs of said transfers, the passage of such a budget item is anything but assured.   

In 1999, the desegregation case was removed from federal supervision when a new Settlement Agreement was reached.  The “phantom payments” were no longer made to the city school district for students who had transferred.  St. Louis City voters approved a 2/3-cent sales tax increase to partially compensate for state desegregation funds that were no longer forthcoming from the state under the new settlement.  In a programmatic change, four attendance zones were established in the city, each linked with specific suburban school districts.  Since 1999, transportation has only been provided for transfer students who comply with this attendance area structure.  Students applying to attend schools outside of their residential attendance area must provide their own transportation.  The Voluntary Interdistrict Coordinating Council, which oversaw implementation of the 1983 Settlement Agreement became a non-profit corporation in 1999 and was renamed the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC).  After 1999, enrollment goals were gradually decreased and several school districts ceased to participate in the voluntary transfer program entirely.  Today, VICC supervises approximately 4,800 (as compared to the 13,000 in 1997) city students transferring to participating suburban school districts.

As for the original Brown case, from Topeka, Kan. – they finally achieved an adequate racial balance in 1998, 45 years after they were first ordered to by the Supreme Court.

That history, and my own personal experience, has taught me that change does not occur overnight, but when it takes four and a half decades, there may be something, or someone, causing that delay.  Being a woman of color, I have found many examples in my life where a level playing field should exist, but doesn’t. 

Poor kids of any color, just as families of means, deserve a quality education on a level playing field with their peers.

On May 15, 2014, the Missouri Legislature struck another victory for equality, when it passed SB 493, which conferred much needed order to a chaotic student transfer process.  The bill establishes a well thought-out hierarchy of options designed to allow students who are trapped in failing schools a high-quality education while staying as close to home as possible.  Of course, the education establishment, a constant force for the status quo, worked feverishly to defeat this important bill. 

In the end, the establishment lost and almost 60 years to the day after Brown, SB 493 was passed.  For me, the question was one of reality – not red tape.  I asked myself if it was our responsibility to make sure these children get a free and fair education.

It is not only the state’s responsibility, but we are actively denying there is a problem at the same time.  Seemingly, the answer I received was, ‘yes, the system’s broken, but we just need more time.’

Sixty years is time enough.

If your child’s school is failing – go to another school in the district.  If there are no other accredited schools in your district, go to a neighboring district or a private, non-religious school.  If the voters approve.  And if the private school abides by all laws regulating public schools.  That’s called a private option.

I guess politically they could call it vouchers, but then they really should tell you the five (5) conditions to be met before your child can go to a quality school.