ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between whiteness and education policy, paying particular attention to how racial privilege is reconstructed through contemporary school choice policies. The rise of neoliberalism in educational reform efforts over the last twenty years introduced individualistic and free-market approaches to education policy. Neoliberalism is traditionally associated with a corporate model of reform that calls upon the free market to assist in the process of schooling, and has spread beyond partisan lines to broadly inform the practices of education policymakers, particularly those constructing policies associated with school choice initiatives. School choice programs have been a part of the US education system for decades. These programs have been designed and implemented to achieve varying outcomes; they can either provide racially and economically diverse quality educational environments or increase inequality. Within a world constructed by, through, and for whiteness it seems obvious to state that race and racism play a major role in school choice policy.
