Maybe blogging is a waning thing. I know I'm getting fairly lazy about it. Or maybe it is just the time of the year. "Father, it has been five days since my last post." "Bless you, my son. What do you have to confess?" "Uh, I just told you." "Oh." It's funny how there are always unintended consequences to the best intended plans. Especially, when it involves the government. Years ago, a federal judge ordered the Hooterville Unified School District to provide a fairer shake for Hispanic and black students in its schools. Plaintiffs convinced the courts that schools needed to be desegregated. Our segregation resulted from housing patterns. In part, those housing patterns were tied to the social sins of the past. Minority children lived in minority neighborhoods and attended neighborhood schools. So, in 1978 we got a desegregation order, along with a fat tax increase to fix what ailed the schools. Magnet schools to encourage more diverse student populations, smaller class sizes and more ethnic programs. Last year that tax brought in $64M to the district. But last week a federal judge decided that the district no longer required federal supervision and released the district from the order, although they get to keep levying the tax. So what has the thirty years effort meant for the district? More integrated schools or better achievement? Nope. Hispanic and black students lag Anglo students in the district's own measures of achievement. Non-Hispanic white students have become the minority. Declining Anglo birthrates and rising Hispanic birthrates are a factor. But so are white flight, black flight and Hispanic and Asian flight, away from HUSD and toward private and charter schools. Lots of bright students and their involved families have dumped HUSD for something better. As of the first of December, non-Hispanic white children made up only about 29% of the district's students. Lest you be fooled into thinking this represents our overall population, it does not. Hooterville is about 56% non-Hispanic white in population. Non-Hispanic white kids are a majority in only 10 of 67 elementary schools, in 3 of 21 middle schools and 5 of 21 regular and alternative high schools. Unfortunately, schools reflect the society in general. Those who can afford to buy the best do and those cannot, accept what is available to them. After 30 years and $800 million dollars, Hooterville Unified Schools have become the school of last resort for poor children. Cure poverty and you will cure the educational system. Without that, you're wasting your time. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky