This report examines public policy effects on historic neighborhood school expansion, renovation, and replacement needs. It addresses four basic questions: (1) Are public policies inadvertently sabotaging the very type of community-centered school that many parents and educators are calling for today? (2) Do some policies and practices promote…

Equates the fight for busing, equal education, and school integration with the general struggle against racism. Briefly discusses the history of busing and school desegregation in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville, New York public schools. (Author/GC)

Inner city Catholic elementary schools have been closing at an alarming rate. White student enrollment has declined because there are fewer students since the end of the baby boom and as a result of the changing racial and ethnic compositions in the inner city. Minority enrollment has also declined because the schools could not, or did not, adapt…

A review of Supreme Court decisions concerning the intent standard, and an exploration of political scientists' findings concerning the nature of decision-making processes in American communities, leads to the conclusion that the standard does not place the burden of proof on those who follow policies that result in segregation. (CMG)

Court intervention in school facility utilization decisions after school closure in the Saint Louis (Missouri) Public School District has resulted in: (1) new decision-making criteria; (2) greater public involvement in decision making; (3) greater coordination of data sources and decision makers; (4) more school conversions; (5) more closures; and…

Discusses the background and implications of a court decision resulting in the resegregation of public schools in metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee, because of declining enrollment. Speculates whether the events indicate a trend back to the concept of neighborhood schools and an end to busing to achieve desegregation. (AOS)

Argues that the following steps will effectuate educational reform: (1) provision of more latitude and flexibility in school governance; (2) business commitment to using and upgrading the inner-city workforce; (3) consumer understanding of rights and options available within public education; and (4) government understanding of the danger of…