Public Education: Still Segregated, Still Unequal

Public schools in New York State are more segregated than in any other state except California. And the problem is more severe in New York City than across the state. This is probably not a surprise to students and teachers in the city’s public schools. But it is documented in a new report just issued by Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project.

School segregation is a direct result of the national crisis in affordable housing that creates, along with redlining, segregated neighborhoods and leads to segregated schools. Residential segregation based on race is a fact in every large American city.

Resegregation Approved

In the last decade, America has experienced a resegregation of a number of its schools systems, aided by court decisions. The Civil Rights Project reveals that “Since the Supreme Court authorized a return to segregated neighborhood schools in 1991, the percentage of black students attending majority nonwhite schools increased . . . from 66 percent in 1991 to 73 percent in 2003-4.”

The idea that school segregation was an out of date issue – no longer much in the public’s consciousness - combined with appointments of conservative federal judges had an impact on the legal efforts to integrate schools. Conservative jurists and legal groups want any educational program declared illegal if race is taken into account.

But racial segregation – and school segregation – is about more than race. There is a direct link between school segregation and inequality, reflected in segregated educational facilities. The Supreme Court understood this when it decided Brown v. Board of Education in 1954: “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

A major divide
in our society

In describing racially segregated schools, the Civil Rights Project report states: “These schools have less qualified, less experienced teachers, lower levels of peer group competition, more limited curricula taught at less challenging levels, more serious health problems, much more turnover of enrollment.” If it added being severely and continually underfinanced, the report could be describing the New York City school system.
This is a national issue. Today, 70 percent of black students across the country attend schools that have a majority of minority students. One out of three are in schools with at least 90 percent students of color. In some areas, notably New York State, Latino segregation is higher than black segregation – 86 percent of Latino students in New York State attend schools with a majority of minority students. Over the years, school segregation has become a major divide in American society, producing a new class system defined by locale (suburbs vs. inner cities) and race (whites vs. people of color).

Just as there is a direct link between school segregation and inequality, there is also a connection between school segregation and poverty. In New York City today, wealthier residents – black and white - send their children to private schools. Public school students are overwhelmingly black and Latino – and poor. Over 80 percent in grades K-6 qualify for the free or subsidized school lunch program.

In New York City, with less than 20 percent white students, there is no way that many students of color could attend a white majority school. But that is not the only goal of desegregation. Educational equity requires financial equity.

Schools Shortchanged

The city’s schools are starved for resources, a product of the distorting politics of race. New York City school funding is over $1,000 less per pupil than any other district in the state. The difference is even more pronounced in comparison to districts in the city’s suburbs.
New York City school buildings are crumbling, classrooms are overcrowded, there are not enough well-trained, experienced teachers assigned to the poorest performing schools, libraries and science labs are often shut down, nearly half of high school students drop out, and less than 10 percent of black and Latino graduates receive a Regents diploma.
New and more effective programs and policies are essential. But these will cost money. I’m always amused by conservative critics who say that more money for schools won’t make a difference. If that’s true, then I propose a switch. The city’s schools will operate for the next 10 years on the per pupil budget of a Westchester suburb, and it will operate on the city’s per pupil budget. Then we’ll see if that makes a difference.

Some day, hopefully soon, the city will get increased state funding mandated by the courts after the lawsuit brought by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. That has the capacity to profoundly improve the quality of our schools - if we use it wisely.

From the New York Amsterdam News
January 26, 2006 - February 1, 2006