The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint saying charter schools in Delaware have become a system of segregated schools, according to the Associated Press.
That violates the rights of minority students and those with disabilities, says the complaint directed at the state Department of Education and a district in northern Delaware, the Red Clay Consolidated School District. The complaint was filed jointly with the Community Legal Aid Society, a Delaware-based non-profit law firm.
The ACLU claims well-educated white students have collected in selective, high-performing charters while their peers with disabilities and from minority or low-income families are mostly found in failing charter schools.
Furthermore, the ACLU says more than three-quarters of Delaware’s 22 charter schools have a large enough disparity between the racial makeup of their campuses and that of the surrounding district population that they are violating federal standards.
The ACLU points to policies for admission and mandatory parental involvement as a few sources that have led to the segregation because not all families have the means to meet those requirements.
Among other things, the ACLU wants a moratorium on new charter schools until a desegregation plan is created and put in place.
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