Chicago alderman lambastes new admissions policy for elite public schools

From The Chicago Sun-Times: A Chicago alderman contends that a new admissions policy for elite city public schools is little more than a plot to free up seats for middle-class white families tired of paying private school tuition. The new policy followed a judge's decision to void a desegregation consent decree that let the district use race to decide admissions to the coveted schools. Now, census tracts, neighborhood income levels and other socio-economic indicators will be determining factors. District lawyers say the U.S. Supreme Court has tied the system's hands with a 2007 ruling that prevents using race to select students.

NOVEMBER 2009...from The Chicago Sun-Times: The process for gaining entry into magnet schools in the Chicago Public School system is undergoing a massive overhaul. A judge's September decision to throw out a nearly 30-year-old desegregation consent decree also has thrown overboard the process of using race to decide magnet school admission. Instead, district officials want to join about 60 other school systems nationwide that use various socioeconomic factors to create diversity in schools.