Several years ago Wake County in North Carolina, Raleigh, discontinued school bussing based upon family income. I remember thinking that the students from lower income families would suffer by this decision.

Wealthy families, living in the same neighborhood, sending their children to the same school would be able to provide much nicer “extracurricular activities” for their children. If you have low income students mixed with higher income students, you’re not going to be able to send a group to New York City on a special educational trip.

At Southeast Raleigh High School, the total minority enrollment is 94%, and 45% of students are economically disadvantaged [USNEWS article]. “Southeast Raleigh High School grieves loss…” was part of the title for a story that WRAL TV had on it’s web site. This was regarding the recent knifing & death of a 15 year old, by a 14 year old, in the school gymnasium. *I wonder if better security would have already been in place, if the student demographics were more diverse.

In 2010, John Tedesco was a very visible proponent of ending the bussing.