This paper addresses the question of whether school vouchers increase school segregation, using the case of Louisiana, which defended its statewide voucher program against a lawsuit by the Department of Justice. The state’s criteria for the awarding of private school scholarships is twofold—students must be low income and enrolled in a low performance school. The evidence presented at trial showed that school vouchers had a positive impact on public school integration in Louisiana in 2012 and 2013 using the standardized measure of interracial exposure, a commonly used measure of racial imbalance. Evidence from voucher programs in Louisiana and other states suggests that voucher programs are more likely to have a positive effect on school integration when a school performance criterion is included in the criteria for eligibility.
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In light of multiple crises in the U.S.—the pandemic, ongoing racial violence, and the climate emergency—rather than returning to educational “normalcy,” as mother-educator-scholars, we urgently call for transformative possibilities for learning in and outside of schools that center community care. We provide three starting points for this transformation: reimagining social emotional teaching and learning; examining the purpose and use of educational technologies; and valuing place-based learning. Overall, we argue that the continued adherence to the myth of meritocracy, encoded in white supremacist and ableist educational structures, is antithetical to the well-being of all people and our nonhuman kin. We conclude the commentary by stating our hope for a more loving and just future: caring for one another and our communities, creating space with each other to state what we need, and recognizing our interdependence.
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