On the Scene: Affirmative Reaction

Kansas City—The court-ordered plan for desegregating the Kansas City, Missouri, Metropolitan School District (KCMSD) has the distinction of having created near unanimity of public opinion—against it.

Taxpayers were the first to speak up, since the decision mandated a doubling of real-estate taxes for school-district residents. But now that the plan has been in operation for three years, the taxpayers have been joined by the parents of black and Hispanic schoolchildren and by Kansas City civil-rights leaders. As one of these leaders, Wallace Hartsfield of Operation PUSH, put it: “That which was designed to help minorities who have traditionally been discriminated against is now working against quality education for minorities.”

RN

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Richard Nadler

Richard Nadler is president of the Americas Majority Foundation, a public-policy think tank in Overland Park, Kan.

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Tom Donelson

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Kansas City—The court-ordered plan for desegregating the Kansas City, Missouri, Metropolitan School District (KCMSD) has the distinction of having created near unanimity of public opinion—against it.

Taxpayers were the first to speak up, since the decision mandated a doubling of real-estate taxes for school-district residents. But now that the plan has been in operation for three years, the taxpayers have been joined by the parents of black and Hispanic schoolchildren and by Kansas City civil-rights leaders. As one of these leaders, Wallace Hartsfield of Operation PUSH, put it: “That which was designed to help minorities who have traditionally been discriminated against is now working against quality education for minorities.”