CMS most racially segregated district in state, report says

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is the most racially segregated in the entire state, according to a report from the North Carolina Justice Center.

It also says CMS is the "most segregated by income" and "economic segregation is on the rise."

CMS spokesperson Tracy Russ said the new report affirms the school district's own findings last month that connected poverty and race to academic achievement.

District officials said they are taking action now and moving ahead.

On the other side of the debate, there are state legislators and parents who don't see a segregation problem that needs to be fixed.

“I wouldn't say that it was segregated,” mother Komeshia Love said.

Love has a child in the CMS system and believes every child is given an equal opportunity to succeed.

She said that all parents need to do more to help their children.

“You have to teach at home, too,” Love said.

Integration, school boundaries and fears of a return to busing students have been a hot-button issue this past year.

The new report said that 55 percent of CMS students would need to be reassigned to achieve racial parity.

“Our view is that no one is really taking busing up as an option right now,” Russ said. “What we're focused on is creating great schools in every neighborhood and every community.”

CMS is hosting workshops the rest of this month and April to discuss the issue.

They will also be looking at data from the new student assignment plan for guidance in coming years.

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Cox Media Group