Aldine ISD, located at 14910 Aldine
Westfield Rd., is among 12 of the largest
districts in the state of Texas. This
nationally recognized district, like many
of its size, is now struggling to overcome
a budgetary shortfall brought on due to
inflation.

Part 1: History of desegregation in Aldine ISD

Aldine is facing a major budgetary shortfall and district administrators believe they have found a solution but it’s not one that parents are happy with. According to AISD Superintendent Wanda Bamberg, there is no win-win solution here. In order for the entire district to win, somebody’s got to lose. And it looks like, among other things, several magnet programs will get the ax.

For many of the district’s stakeholders, it is the thing they have feared the most. Residents fought hard for the magnet programs that came about as a part of the 1977 desegregation order in the now mostly minority district.

Aldine’s student population is 47 percent Hispanic, 36 percent African-American, 14 percent White, and 71 percent economically disadvantaged. But it has not always been that way. At one time, Whites made up the majority, with Blacks accounting for less than one-third. Blacks were educated separately from all other races.

For this educational system, they could thank the United States Supreme Court, which decided in the 1896 ruling of Plessy v.. Ferguson, that separate public facilities for Blacks and Whites were constitutional, if they were equal. But public facilities were not equal. And Aldine was no different.

In 1954, Oliver L. Brown of Topeka, KS, with the aid of the NAACP, challenged the Board of Education on the sacred cow of the South, “separate, but equal education.” In the matter of Brown v. The Board of Education, The Supreme Court presented the landmark, unanimous decision that separate, but equal education was not only unconstitutional, it was impossible.

Chief Justice Earl Warren stated in his opinion, “Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...

“Segregation of White and Colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the Colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of Negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially] integrated school system.

“We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Although the ruling was made in 1954, school districts in the South were no different, often failing to comply with the spirit, if not the letter of the law. Again, Aldine was no different. In 1965, 11 years after Brown v. The Board of Education, in the matter of Sampson and United States v. Aldine Independent School District, et al, CIVIL ACTION NO. 64-H-273, the U. S. Department of Justice issued a desegregation order for AISD mandating that the district eliminate their “separate, but equal” education system, which, in fact really wasn’t equal.

Although that desegregation order remained in effect for many years, it did not solve the problem of racial disparities in the school system. In 1977, “in order to remove the vestiges of racism,” the desegregation order was strengthened. The order was based upon the low performance and high achievement gaps of African-Americans (14.8 percent of the district’s population) and Hispanics (15.9 percent) as compared to Whites (68.1 percent).

The Justice Department required students to be bused throughout the district to insure racial balance. Additionally, magnet schools were developed and enrollment based on a lottery system, using race and school choice to decide which students would fill the magnet school slots.

The magnet schools, comprised of specialized programs, attracted an ethnically diverse selection of students to predominantly minority communities, such as Acres Homes. Development of these programs became a community project, with parents and focus groups making recommendations. They were created using $12 million in grant money provided by the federal government due to the court order.
But in 2002, Bamberg says Aldine worked to overcome the issues that precipitated the order, and once they were able to prove it unnecessary, they sought to get the order lifted. Nadine Kujawa was the superintendent of schools.

Stakeholders like Roy Douglas Malonson, CEO/Chairman of Acres Homes Citizens Chamber of Commerce argued against the effort, fearing that the district would revert to its current state if it did not remain under the watchful eye of the judge. Malsonson who was responsible for the district’s Montessori and Magnet plans said, “This is a very serious matter,” he said during a public meeting regarding the issue. “This is dealing with education for our children. Dr. Kujawa said it…. Aldine [does] not need to be removed from under the desegregation plan. You needed a court order to be fair to our children. You did it, but you were forced to do so.”

Both Malonson and Keith Silas, a board member of the Acres Homes Citizens Chamber of Commerce, expressed concerns that a performance gap remained between African-Americans and Whites, one of the causes of the extended desegregation order.

“I’m concerned about the red line. We are always on the bottom. You are making it look like Black children are unable to be educated. You need to get teachers that can relate to the students at these schools and we are asking you to sit down and talk to us more about this desegregation plan,” said Silas.

Aldine received $12 million in federal grant money over the course of two or three years to develop the court ordered magnet programs. But according to Bamberg, those federal dollars came with strings attached. During the process, she says she worked hard alongside Kujawa and others who wanted to see it lifted.

She says she strongly believed it to be in the best interest of the school district to get out from under the weight of the order, but says she was not among those pushing for the move. However, in light of the district’s financial woes, Bamberg wonders if the district was wise in disregarding the grants that undergirded the magnet programs.

Next Week: Magnets lose their protected status