“The following opinion relates the activities of a school district that has consistently and massively violated the dictates of Brown v. Board of Education. … It is the story of a school district that, at times, has committed such open acts of discrimination as to be cruel and committed others with such subtlety as to raise discrimination to an art form.” — U.S. Magistrate Judge P. Michael Mahoney.

Register Star special report: Segregated Again

Mahoney penned those words in a 1993 opinion in a class-action lawsuit against Rockford Public Schools. The district was found guilty of widespread, intentional discrimination against minority students. Its punishment was a litany of court orders and years of oversight.

The district spent millions to desegregate schools, integrate classrooms, implement choice-based school selection and build new schools before the courts allowed local control in 2001.

24 years and $252 million later ... Are we any better off?

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