The funding of secondary-education remains problematic, as does the conservative attempt to gut public schools. According to some indicators hypersegregation is even more problematic than it was thirty years ago.
I firmly believe that the best solution to the problem is a variant of the Blair solution in the south. After slavery was ended, hundreds of thousands of formerly enslaved Africans needed to be educated, as well as large numbers of rural whites. In response Henry Blair, a northern Republican senator came up with a bill that would call for massive federal funds devoted to dealing with southern illiteracy. The bill ended up failing...another example of shooting off one's nose to spite one's face.
But this bill, if enacted, would have not only bolstered an important civic institution, but it would have developed human capital. With all of today's talk about focusing on k-12 rather than on johnny come lately programs like Affirmative Action, I think it is probably not a bad idea to revisit old school republican policy initiatives.
SHARPTON UPDATE:
No new changes on the policy front. Blacks are expected to give money, to vote...but for seemingly no other reason than melanin. New school republicans have got a support Al Sharpton campaign going. Wonder why?