US Department of Education: Bring on the Single-Sex K-12 Schools

According to regulations announced by the Department of Education yesterday and published this morning, Title IX is officially no longer a barrier for public school districts wanting to offer single-sex schooling (NYT article here, registration required).  K-12 schools now may offer single-sex classes for boys or girls as long as they have an educationally sound reason for doing so; and, schools are no longer required to offer corresponding single-sex classes for the opposite sex—only the same classes in coed environments.  Students' enrollment also must be voluntary.  (Equal Protection Clause and state ERA legal issues remain.)

241 single-sex K-12 public schools currently operate across the country; 235 of them have opened within just the past six years, and many are charter schools serving at-risk communities.  With an eye towards Title IX compliance, about 80% of these schools have both boys and girls in attendance in one building, but segregate classrooms for educational purposes.  For more information, see the National Association for Single Sex Public Education.

This isn't the only education equity story brewing as 2006 comes to a close, though.  The voluntary school integration cases, in which K-12 school districts attempted to maximize the racial and ethnic diversity of individual schools within their district but were not required by a court order to do so, are scheduled for argument before the Supreme Court on December 4.  Any thoughts on the juxtaposition of these two issues, gentle readers?