Are Ballot Initiatives a Good Way to Make Education Policy? The Case of Affirmative Action

Abstract

Are direct democratic ballot initiatives a just way to make education policy, especially when the policy disproportionately affects members of underrepresented groups? This is the broad question taken up in this article, related in particular to how education policy decided through the ballot initiative process affects minorities. The authors use philosophical inquiry to examine the fairness of education policy decisions being made by voters via the ballot initiative process. The primary purpose of this article is to shed light on an underexamined issue within education policy analysis, the phenomenon of education-related initiatives that focus on dismantling historic civil rights policies.