Crossing the Line: Chapter 220, Open Enrollment, and the City-Suburban Education Divide

Thursday, November 21
Marquette Law School, Eckstein Hall
5:30 to 6pm, light buffet dinner
6pm, program
The event is free, but registration is required

Since the mid-1970s, thousands of students who live in the City of Milwaukee have attended public schools in the suburbs, while a smaller number of suburban students have enrolled in Milwaukee schools, through now-two state programs. Chapter 220 is a voluntary program enabling students of color in the city to enroll in participating and available suburban districts; public school “open enrollment,” a statewide program dating to 1997, permits enrollment of a student in any participating and available school district and is not based on race. Across that period, the resident population of some Milwaukee suburbs has become more diverse. Yet disparities in achievement by income and race remain large. This evening session will examine the impact and result of these programs and trends and explore the lessons for public policy going forward.

The program will include an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” conversation with Professor Kara Finnigan, of the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester, who will provide a national perspective based on her work as part of a Ford Foundation-funded research project looking at regional educational equity collaborations such as Chapter 220.

Sponsored by Marquette University Law School, Marquette University College of Education, and the Chapter 220 Joint Planning Council.