Education

In Nashville, public school officials are finding it a challenge to balance school improvement plans with a desire for racial diversity.

The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is slated to approve the school funding formula next week. The new proposal, released Thursday, still pays for the voucher program with dollars that would otherwise go to local districts. But, state Supt. John White is pitching alternative financing that would skirt the formula.

Since the 1970s, federal court orders have governed how many Southern communities integrated their public schools. But new research shows, as those orders have been lifted, school districts are gradually re-segregating.

In Coldwater, MS, the student body was divided after the construction of a new school. That has sparked debate over whether separate can be equal.