Is District Consolidation a Measure of Social Justice?

My View

Have you ever driven around an area and passed a real estate development sign that explicitly calls out an independent school system that is zoned for that subdivision? While this may seem like an innocuous effort to market new homes and prop up the advertised schools as a desirable commodity, consider the underlying statement that I find less innocuous: Other schools nearby are not good enough for the potential buyer’s children.

Is this acceptable? I view these sales promotions as social justice malpractice.

The conservative political movement has brought an increased push for vouchers, charter schools, home schooling and school choice. The politicization of education with its accompanying rhetoric, sensationalism and elitism serves as an attempt to create a market-based public school system. 

The desire to keep kids from well-to-do families out of schools populated by students from economically depressed families — a phenomenon that previously lurked quietly under the surface — has become vocalized with “us versus them” statements. School vouchers and school choice mostly benefits families who have the means to move their children to another school.