Arne Duncan will fail

The Colossus of Rhodey ^ | 03/10/2010 | Hube

[Hube]

Joshua Dunn notes why Education Secretary Duncan's proposed civil rights "reinforcement" is not only misguided, but will ultimately lose in the courts if it comes to that:

This is the same Department of Education that can’t support a voucher program in Washington DC to help minority children escape the grinding incompetence of the DC school system. Now it wants to spend its resources determining whether schools in Fairfax County or Westchester have a disproportionate number of white kids in college prep classes. Someone’s priorities seem misplaced. Even Nixon would blush.

Second, it’s hard to see how Duncan can do this without running into headlong into the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Parents Involved v. Seattle School District No. 1. Duncan plans on relying on “disparate impact” analysis to show for instance that school districts with a disproportionate number of white students in advanced placement classes are guilty of discrimination. The cure for that disparate impact will be “robust remedies” like early intervention programs. But if (white) parents discover that their children have been denied access to an AP class to ensure racial balancing, they will likely bring suit just like the parents from Seattle in Parents Involved. And chances are, they will win. After all, Justice Kennedy, in his controlling opinion, singled out identifying students based solely on race as unconstitutional.

Of course, you might wonder "Well, why not just add more AP classes instead of denying some kids access (for balance)?" A legitimate query. However, now consider if your school district/state has the funds to add more teachers. Dunn then notes "One can easily envision school districts putting unprepared students in AP classes simply to satisfy the Department of Education." This is precisely what I wrote yesterday.