Thread by @citizenstewart

"Discrimination in City Schools Lives On" But Basis Is Magnet Schools, Not Race"

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
February 20, 1994

Between 1983 and 94 the district spent $ 1 billion in state money to implement all aspects of a court-ordered desegregation plan.

This is how it went.

"For at least 10 of those years, the district has consistently spent more money per student on those attending magnet schools than on those in non-magnets. Last year(1993), average spending per student at magnets was 30 percent higher than spending at non-magnets."

The district tried to start programs in the Black schools that were lesser funded than the magnet schools. They failed and had their budget cut year-by-year. There was no rigor or real teaching.

One program was so bad the courts ordered it to be defunded.

In 1993 a court-ordered study found libraries were better in magnets and each had a librarian. In the Black non-magnet schools there was one librarian for every four schools.

In magnet high schools the student-teacher ratio was 24-to-1. It was 28-to-1 in the non-magnets.

What do you notice here: "Nicolette Thomas, 14, has attended magnet schools for four years. Administrators encouraged her to apply to the Classical Junior Academy's sixth grade after noticing that her test scores were among the highest at Roe Elementary School, a non-magnet."

So, magnet schools were cherry-picking students, they were better funded and had more rigorous courses, and had better facilities.

While at the same time they made things worse for Black students trapped in non-magnets?

Never, ever talk to me about charters again.