April 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the landmark legislation that has provided the foundation of federal education policy in the United States. In "Presidents, Congress, and the Public Schools," longtime policy analyst Jack Jennings examines the evolution of federal education…

This article will focus on the efforts of the State of Illinois to desegregate Chicago Public Schools between 1971 and 1979. The article also examines the responsibility taken on by the State of Illinois to desegregate schools and the limits between establishing the mechanisms to desegregate and the ability to accomplish those goals in Chicago.…

Presented here are the remarks of William Bradford Reynolds, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division at the Education Commission of the States National Project on Desegregation Strategies' Workshop. Reynolds states that mandatory busing and other remedial techniques to achieve racial balance in schools (measures tentatively sanctioned by…

The Brown v. Board of Education decision upheld a civil rights ideal that was based on the personal interests of the students; it made no requirement for a perfect racial balance in all classrooms throughout the offending school district. Yet the ensuing, forced desegregation plans that involved long-distance busing, and other measures based on…

This testimony was delivered by William Bradford Reynolds, the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, before the Subcommttee on Separation of Powers, Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Reynold states that compulsory busing of students is not an acceptable remedy to achieve racial balance. He emphasizes the…

This monograph reviews the history and examines the current status of school desegregation with respect to major court decisions and their impact on educational policy. Discussed are the Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954 and subsequent Supreme Court and lower court decisions, busing, involvement of the executive and legislative branches of…

To understand the controversy over busing, it is necessary to understand the relationship between busing and the issues that are actually at the root of the controversy: desegregation and freedom of choice. Much of the political activity surrounding busing is a subtle transfer of attention away from the basic issue of desegregation. Other…