Seattle is doing the same thing (see https://reason.com/2020/01/27/seattles-school-system-wants-t... and https://reason.com/2020/03/26/seattles-school-system-has-beg...). This is all in the name of “equity” (equality of outcomes) and “justice”, and is in lock step with the political movements we see in other highly progressive cities like Portland and San Francisco.

Looking at local dialogue on this from activists, politicians, and educators, I am seeing them label gifted education programs as white supremacist and discriminatory. But the reality is that the separation of good students and bad students is not avoidable. This isn’t a question of unequal resources. Seattle currently spends north of 23K per student per year on its public schools, and despite funding going up dramatically (nearly doubling) in the last decade, parents see no tangible improvements (https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/20000-pe...).

The reality is that unequal outcomes are a function of parenting, core values, innate motivation to work hard, and innate talent (genetics?). This movement to artificial hold back the best students, who deserve something better, is just sacrificing America’s competitiveness on the altar of progressive “justice” agendas.