ABSTRACT
The United States has long struggled with the concept of equality in public education, with race having often been the determining factor in the provision of educational services and opportunities. Though nearly 60 years have passed since the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), educational inequities still exist in America. Thus, this chapter chronicles the use of race as the legal determiner of educational opportunity in the nation’s education system, to show how the property line now takes the place of race. We argue that although Brown’s desegregation movement was a valiant effort to champion education equity, where one resides has become the “new” proxy for race in distributing quality educational opportunities in this “colorblind” American society. Despite this unfortunate circumstance, the United States must create an equitable, 21st century education system for all of America’s students. The welfare of our nation depends on it.
