Desegregation Bussing: What is it? And did it Accomplish Anything?
In 1945, Brown v. Topeka Board of Education segregating public schools was ruled unconstitutional, but it wasn’t until 1955 in the Brown II case the Court ruled that all public schools were required to desegregate, as quickly as possible. This Court ruling led to desegregation bussing. Desegregation bussing was an effort made by the government to integrate schools by bussing minority students to white schools and white students to schools for people of color. The intent of this was to make sure that all children were giving equal opportunities at education regardless of their race.
Bussing was very controversial when it was introduced. People who support bussing found it to be very necessary in the road to desegregation. They believed it to be the fastest way to provide equal opportunities for the students, provided students with exposure to races outside of their own, and some studies show that integrated schools had higher test scores. People who didn’t support it brought up points such as students are wasting their time on long bus rides, it’s hard for them to participate in after school activities, and some simply supported segregation. The same way people fought for integrating the schools, people fought against it, and in 2002 the Supreme Court honored a lower court ruling stating that the school system has achieved desegregation and bussing was no longer needed.
Although bussing students based on race has ended and schools are considered to have been desegregated, we still see segregation in schools today. UCLA’s Civil Rights Project and the Center for Education and Civil Rights reported that in 2016, 40% of balck students in America attended schools that were at least made up of 90% students of color. Even though desegregation bussing had great intent, it did not have the effect that people thought it would. Still to this day schools are separate and unequal, with schools in low income neighborhood, populated by mostly minorities, lack funding and proper supplies, and school in higher income neighborhoods dominating by white people have a surplus of funding to focus on more than education but also extracurriculars and sports.
https://time.com/5673555/busing-school-segregation/