Racial preferences or school choice? How to improve education for non-white students

One of the most important questions in America today is how to improve the quality of education for underrepresented minorities so that they can succeed in life. Two huge political earthquakes offer two vastly different answers: racial preferences and school choice.

In the first earthquake, the California Legislature voted to place a measure on the November ballot that would repeal the state’s landmark Proposition 209, which says, “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

If repeal succeeds, race-based preferences in areas such as college admissions, which Prop. 209 has long prohibited, could return. Yet research shows that K-12 public education, not Prop. 209, is the real obstacle for underrepresented minorities entering higher education.

A University of California diversity report acknowledged “that unequal opportunities characterize the educational landscape in California.” It also said that these disparities, which are “severe, large and extensive, and associated with racial/ethnic and socio-economic factors,” actually “predate Proposition 209.”