The Frankenmuth School District has about 1,400 students, nearly 91% of whom are white. The poverty rate is around 5%. By contrast, the Saginaw City School District on the west side has nearly 5,200 students, 81% of whom are students of color. The poverty rate is 50%.
This large economic and racial gap between two adjacent regions of Michigan shows that school segregation continues into the 21st century.
This is one of the key findings of a new report published by researchers at think tank New America.
Over about 60 pages, researchers analyzed 24,658 pairs of districts that shared a border.
On average, student poverty rates vary by 5 percentage points across nearby school districts. However, some pairs of areas, such as Frankenmuth and Saginaw, showed much higher levels of economic segregation, with poverty rates differing by about 45 percentage points.
Researchers note that the inequalities uncovered in the report are not inevitable. This is only a product of government policy, such as the decision to tie school funding to property assets, and policies are subject to change.
“States do not need to continue making policy choices that reinforce these deep district disparities,” the researchers wrote. “There are better options: more inclusive local guidance, a more equitable and reasonable approach to raising school revenue, and a funding system that supports students based on their needs, not the wealth of their communities.”
roots of racism
School district boundaries generally coincide with city limits. Because a large amount of school funding comes from property taxes, funding disparities can also occur between neighborhoods.
These disparities stem from racist 20th-century housing practices, such as covenants that prevented homeowners from selling their homes to black buyers, segregated development financed with federal money, and “urban renewal” policies that displaced black residents.
Researchers found that the modern effects of these policies are still at work on Long Island, New York. The gap between its Brentwood Union Free School District and West Islip Union Liberty School District is one of the most segregated in the country (ranked 34th overall). Top 100 Most Racially Segregated).
According to the report, students in Brentwood are 86% Latino and 35% are English learners, while students in West Islip are 82% white and 1% are English learners. Eleven percent of Brentwood students live below the federal poverty line, which the report calls “a staggering figure considering the neighborhood’s economic resources.” Less than 3% of West Islip students live below the poverty line.
Despite little state funding, West Islip's wealth more than makes up the difference. Between state and local revenues, “Brentwood Union students receive approximately 71 cents for every dollar given to West Islip students,” according to the report.
But it doesn't have to stay that way.
“Like the distribution of school funding, school district boundaries are a product of state policy,” the authors wrote. “State law sets out how these lines are drawn and the processes and requirements for changing them. “Redrawing district boundaries and changing boundary policies can lead to better outcomes for our students and schools.”
more money, more cost
In some cases, when state funding is taken into account, high-poverty school districts end up receiving more funding per student than their wealthier neighbors. However, students' needs are often complex and families are more dependent on the school for support.
The Wahluke and Kittitas school districts both operate in rural Washington, about 100 miles southeast of Seattle. Although student poverty rates are about 12% and 8%, respectively, the Wahluke school district is comprised of nearly 99% students of color, compared to 23% for Kittitas.
According to the report, the Wahluke community is home to taxpayers who are unlikely to raise property taxes to fund more schools, such as farm owners and retirement community residents who don't live nearby. Another funding issue cited by researchers is that residents living in the country without legal permission are afraid to respond to the census. This “reduces the amount the district receives through the federal funding formula.”
“Most students come from immigrant families who came to the area to work in agriculture,” researchers say of the Wahluke School District. “The district spends a significant portion of its budget on bilingual education, translation services and family engagement. “Many of the district’s parents came to the United States specifically so their children could receive a better education, and the schools are the heart of the community.”
Various solutions for the condition
Researchers say solutions to the long-standing problem of inequality will have to vary depending on the needs of each state. One option is to change school district boundaries to better mix areas with high and low property values. Another option would be to stop or limit the use of property taxes to fund schools. That could mean distributing money at the state level or pooling property tax funds in rich and poor areas.
“For too long, students have been educated according to geographies of exclusion and difference,” the researchers concluded. “It’s time to draw a line.”
Inequality is not just numbers on a spreadsheet. Ultimately, it impacts the lives and experiences of real students like Julian Morris, a high school student in Saginaw City.
His Michigan school district ranked first in the report's list of economically segregated school districts when compared to one of its neighbors, the Frankenmuth School District. The Frankenmuth School District website displays its motto in bright red letters: “Where Hard Work Unlocks Opportunity.” (Saginaw City School District appears five more times on that list due to its stratified poverty rates compared to other border districts.)
But in Julian's view, student effort isn't really what makes the difference.
“This city’s students have a strong will to succeed,” Morris explains in the report. “They want to make the most of their opportunities at school. But we don't really get what we need to prepare for college or do well in college. We meet the requirements – four years of math, three years of science and a foreign language – but these are just the basics and the bare minimum.”