“A Blueprint for Desegregation”

Early in his tenure, President Ronald Reagan confounded civil rights advocates by shining the national spotlight on mandatory school busing, a controversial topic in nearly every corner of the country.

Not that the issue of desegregation had quietly slipped under the country’s collective radar—it hadn’t, especially in urban areas where it had become a decisive community debate—but the changing dynamics of the issue had left critics and supporters at an impasse. 

Since taking office in 1981 Reagan had been a staunch opponent of affirmative action and was intent on putting a stop to mandatory busing. As he entered the final year of his first term, though, his administration worked with school districts to develop an argument for “magnet schools.” At the heart of the issue was whether desegregation could be promoted voluntarily through the busing of students to inner-city schools with first-rate, highly innovative academic programs. 

The issue came into the national conscience in February 1984, when the U.S. Department of Justice approved a school desegregation plan for Bakersfield, Calif., to create four elementary magnet schools. It was heralded as a “blueprint for desegregation in the future” by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights William Bradford Reynolds.

The decision was contentious. Cities like Boston and San Diego had already endorsed the concept, while educators and activists in Chicago were pointing to its failures. Until then, though, the issue seldom resonated with the American public; only four percent of children participated in forced busing in 1984. Early statistics had shown that of the 1,000 magnet schools located in 130 school districts, 80 percent were performing better than their regular public school counterparts. 

Today, magnet schools—oft confused with charter schools, which have different missions—still cite diversity as a core principle. They have become ingrained in the public conscience and, with more than half of all urban school districts reporting magnet schools they are now, more than ever, popular across the U. S.