Nebraska: White flight follows influx of Hispanics into schools

Dick Eisenhauer is tired of watching white families take their children out of the schools in his Nebraska district and enroll them in smaller, outlying ones, where there are virtually no poor or Hispanic students. Like many of Nebraska's school systems, the Lexington district where Mr. Eisenhauer is superintendent has seen an influx of Hispanics, largely because of jobs at the meatpacking plants, and an accompanying exodus of white students to public elementary schools just outside town. And there is nothing Mr. Eisenhauer can do about it. Nebraska law allows students to switch schools without giving a reason. "It bothers you when people come into your town and make comments like 'You've got lots of Mexican kids,'" he said. "I feel distressed if they would opt out for that reason." The situation in Lexington and elsewhere in Nebraska has caught the attention of the state Legislature, which is considering a bill to thwart what some say amounts to de facto segregation in the schools. The proposal would force the outlying elementary-only schools to merge with larger kindergarten-through-12th-grade districts. That could mean the closing of the smaller schools. Beginning in the 1960s, white flight to the suburbs left many big-city school systems across the country predominantly black. But what is happening in Nebraska is a different phenomenon: The white families are staying put, but they are sending their kids to school outside town. This is possible because Nebraska, unlike many other states and communities, does not require students to attend the schools in the district in which they live.  [more]