NY Times

July 16, 2015

To the Editor:

Re “Obama Unveils Stricter Rules on Fair Housing” (front page, July 9):

One need look no farther than Long Island to see that minority students who attend integrated schools are more successful than those in segregated educational settings, Long Island being one of the nation’s most segregated regions in housing and schools. Making matters worse are the 125 school districts that comprise the region, most of which have homogeneous student populations.

In addition to providing minorities vouchers for the purchase or rental of homes in integrated communities, local and state governments should consolidate school districts to achieve the goal of more integrated schools, if not neighborhoods. The cost of such actions would most probably be considerably less than vouchers.

MARC F. BERNSTEIN

New York

The writer is a retired superintendent of schools and a member of the adjunct faculty at Fordham Graduate School of Education.