Community activists filed three federal civil rights complaints on May 13 challenging school closures in Newark, New Orleans and Chicago that they say disproportionately affect African-American students.

The complaints, submitted to the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights and the Justice Department, also charge that minority students in the three cities have been disproportionately affected by charter school expansions.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the use of federal funds by schools and other institutions.

“Children are being uprooted, shuffled into schools that are no better than the ones they came from,” said advocate Judith Browne Dianis. “In each city, African-American children’s hopes of equal educational opportunity are being dashed.”

Chicago has closed 111 public schools since 2001 while Newark has closed 13 since 2009. New Orleans closed its last five remaining traditional public schools on May 28, creating the country’s first all-charter school district.

According to the complaints, many of the schools that have been shuttered overwhelmingly served African-American students while those dominated by white students have been spared.

“It’s ironic that those pushing school choice as school reform are taking away our choice,” said New Orleans parent Karran Harper Royal. “Most African-American parents in New Orleans don’t have the choice of neighborhood schools, unlike their white counterparts.”

The Washington Post, May 13, 14