A new analysis of public school enrollment data by the Pew Hispanic Center reported from 1993 to 2006, "white students became less isolated from minority students while, at the same time, black and Hispanic students became slightly more isolated from white students.,”Court ordered desegregation in the United States has declined, but school officials are wondering if desegregation will happen naturally in the future.

A new analysis of public school enrollment data by the Pew Hispanic Center reported from 1993 to 2006, "white students became less isolated from minority students while, at the same time, black and Hispanic students became slightly more isolated from white students."

Wisconsin had the fifth-largest decline between 1993 and 2006 in the percentage of white students attending mostly all white schools.

In the 1993-'94 school year 58 percent of white students in Wisconsin attended nearly all-white schools. In the 2005-'06 that number decreased to 31 percent, the report said.

The report also found that the percentage of black students attending nearly all- minority schools almost doubled, from 17 percent to 32 percent between 1993 and 2006.

The UCLA Civil Rights Project, a collection of summaries and reports regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964, published a report that found the number of minorities in the U.S. will soon overtake the number of whites. This growth, the study found, is happening as more minorities integrate into the U.S.

Blacks and Latinos are more isolated from whites because for the past 40 years, whites have been moving to the suburbs, the project's Web site said.

"While segregation rises, the tools that school districts can use to create integrated schools are limited, despite growing knowledge about the importance of integrated experiences," the project's Web site said.

In the Milwaukee Public Schools, just under 13 percent of students enrolled for the 2006-'07 school year are white, said Roseann St. Aubin, director of MPS communications and public affairs.

Just over 57 percent of MPS students are black and 21 percent are Latino. Around 8 percent are other ethnicities, including American Indian, Asian and Middle Eastern, she said.

Kathleen Cooke, superintendent of Hamilton School District near Brookfield, said a program that promotes desegregation in area schools is Chapter 220 The Voluntary Student Transfer Program.

Chapter 220 is a voucher program designed to racially integrate schools. The program allows minority students to attend predominantly white schools in suburban areas. White suburban students can attend racially diverse schools in the Milwaukee system. Transportation is provided to students in designated regions, program documents said.

The Oconomowoc Area School District enrolls a majority of white students due to geographic reasons, said Pat Neudecker, superintendent of the district. Students can apply to the Chapter 220 program one year in advance. Any student can apply and attend the schools in the Oconomowoc district, Neudecker said.

In 1999, a program was started to build new schools in the MPS area to reduce busing time, St. Aubin said.

The Neighborhood Schools Initiative has since built two schools that compare to suburban schools as far as books, computers and science equipment. In addition, students are close to home, family and friends, St. Aubin said.

One issue facing MPS is some families believe their children will receive a better education at, and continue to bus children to, suburban schools, St. Aubin said. The Neighborhood Schools Initiative is also dealing with school safety, community clean-up and the betterment of the surrounding area, she said.

In 1999, NSI spent an average of $57,000,000 on transportation, St. Aubin said. This includes bus transportation of special needs children and Milwaukee County Transit System passes for older students.

This school year, NSI is spending the same amount on transportation because of the increasing cost of fuel, despite a drop in the number of students using the transportation, St. Aubin said. The drop, according to St. Aubin, is due to a large number of students moving out of the inner city.

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