Racial consent decree in Chicago schools ends

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Exactly 29 years to the day after the U.S. federal government sued Chicago Public Schools for discriminating against black and Hispanic students, a federal judge has ended the resulting mandate for the district to racially integrate.

Judge Charles Korkoras vacated the so-called desegregation consent decree late Thursday, stating in an opinion that within the district schools "the vestiges of discrimination are no longer."

The judge also scrapped the federal oversight of the district's bilingual program, saying it was a state issue.

The decision is likely to have the most impact on the magnet and selective schools in the district, which have maintained race-based admissions. For instance, although white students make up just 8 percent of the student population, they were granted 35 percent of seats in the highly competitive schools.

The struggles of urban America.