LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- Decision 2020 has brought the topic of busing back to the table. On multiple occasions, Democratic candidates tore into another on the subject.

The Jefferson County School District is one of the only school systems left in the country that continues a form of busing as a way to provide racial equity.

Louisvillian Dr. Bernard Minnis remembers the first days of busing in September 1975. Minnis worked for the district when integration was ordered, and busing started. But he says the national stage is no place for debate on busing, because it's too local a topic and varies from community to community.

"It's state by state, community by community, and you can't use one approach to address it," says Minnis.

Is busing working to achieve diversity? Historian Tracy K'Meyer works at the University of Louisville. She's written a book, From Brown to Meredith: The Long Struggle for School Desegregation in Louisville, Kentucky 1954-2007. Her answer, is yes, though there have been complaints and disappointments from different sides.

"If the school board suddenly decided we're going to go back to just neighborhood schools, everyone's going to go to the school that's closest to their home- which is a question of how that gets decided, right- because there's residential segregation, the school system would very, very rapidly resegregate," K'Meyer says.

Board of Education Chair Diane Porter says the goal of busing and school choice today is the same as it was in '75, although there are different needs to address in students.

"I think the goal whether it was then or now was quality education for all of our students. And to get them ready to go into the world which is a diverse population," Porter says.