When it comes to racial segregation, most New Jersey residents do not see a problem: Only 12 percent of voters say that their neighborhoods are racially segregated, and only 19 percent would like to see more ethnic diversity in their area, according to a recent survey conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University.
But the reality is that New Jersey’s schools are among the most segregated in America, researchers note – more segregated than those in Alabama or Mississippi. So why don’t people notice? And if civil rights activists in New Jersey sue the state over its segregated schools, how might this affect integration policy?
We asked Halley Potter, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation who has researched school integration for over a decade. Below is an edited transcript.
Q: Why are schools more segregated here than in Alabama or Mississippi?
A. One factor is the division of the state into so many different school districts. For a relatively small state, New Jersey has more than 600 districts; by comparison, Florida has only about 70. These small units of school decision-making and funding ultimately create dividing lines that separate students by race and income and have profound effects on their opportunities. And it’s very hard for students or money to cross those district lines.
Q: What do you think about this poll that found that most New Jerseyans do not believe their schools are segregated?
A. Nationally, most Americans see segregation in our schools as a problem, so it’s surprising and troubling that the numbers for New Jersey are so low. One hypothesis is that many people in northern states see segregation as a national problem but don’t realize that much of the segregation is happening in schools right outside their doorsteps. It may also be that some people see their schools as integrated because they reflect their communities, but the communities themselves are highly segregated. I also see an echo of the high marks Americans give their children’s schools even when they see problems in education overall.
Q. In other polls, families support the idea of racial and economic integration in schools, regardless of race or class. Why do white families oppose integration?
A. Even when there is general support for integration in polls, you see that support drops off sharply when you ask questions like, “Would you support sending your child to a more diverse school if that meant a longer commute or something else that required a trade-off?” I think that’s one of the challenges for school integration: You get a lot of nodding on the larger issue, but when it gets serious, people may be afraid to make changes to their local schools. That can lead to a zero-sum mentality: Many white families are worried that plans to change enrollment numbers to increase integration will somehow result in their children getting less. But the data on school integration shows that it actually provides benefits for students of all backgrounds.
Q: Is there growing resistance among black families to integrated schools?
A. The data I’ve seen shows that there is still a lot of support for school integration in Black communities. But we also need to acknowledge the very real concerns and history of challenges around school integration and the ways that Black communities and families have sometimes been harmed or not heard in past integration efforts. There is a real effort now to do this in a different way, to center the voices of leaders and communities of color, and to bring together our conversations around resources and funding and enrollment and integration. The gaps we see in opportunity for students have to do with both the high levels of segregation in school enrollment and the inequities in funding. Trying to address just one of those things, funding, has proven unsuccessful for decades.
Q. New Jersey’s school funding formula provides more state support for districts with English learners and low-income students. How does that play into this debate?
A. New Jersey is on more solid footing than many other states; it has a progressive funding formula. Although I would argue that more could be done to improve that formula. But even if New Jersey could fix all of that, does it really solve the problem? The results we’re seeing so far suggest that this alone is probably not enough. Go back to the language of Brown v. Board of Education; we simply have not experienced separation ever being truly synonymous.
Part of this is because despite all efforts to equalize, resource inequalities can still arise. Other factors might be considered, such as parent-teacher funding or the quality of facilities. And having diverse groups of students in a space is in itself a resource that they deserve equal access to. Some of the most interesting recent data on this comes from researcher Raj Chetty, who has studied how being able to make friends across socioeconomic lines benefits a low-income child and how that can lead to economic opportunities later on. These things cannot be achieved with school funding formulas alone. School integration can be one of the most cost-effective strategies for improving student achievement.
Q: What are the best ways to desegregate schools without provoking a backlash and white flight?
A. One strategy that is really promising is controlled choice, which typically allows families to evaluate their school options. Some may choose the schools closest to them as their first choice, while others may be more interested in a school with a strong STEM offering or a focus in the arts. Then the families’ choices are weighted together with an enrollment algorithm designed to ensure that all schools are within a certain range of the community’s overall diversity. Through such a process, you can find schools that reflect the overall community much better while still providing families with diverse options.
In New Jersey, where there is so much segregation across district lines, an important part of this discussion needs to be at the state level to see if there are ways to merge larger districts or allow students to move across lines. One of the most successful examples of this is Connecticut: Because of a state Supreme Court ruling, there was an effort to desegregate schools in Hartford City and surrounding suburban districts. As a result, about 10% of Hartford students attended integrated schools; now about half of students have that option. Magnet schools in the city and surrounding suburbs can attract students in both directions. That’s one of the things I think could be really promising in New Jersey.
Q: Do you think you can sell such a solution when most people don’t even see a problem with it?
A. It’s clear that the state needs more education about the problem, but it’s also really important to get people excited about the alternative. You see a lot of interest from families in the suburbs around Hartford who are excited about attending interdistrict magnet schools. Some may be motivated because they understand the high levels of segregation in their communities, but in many cases the driving factor is access to a different learning environment that they see as a benefit for their child.
Q. Otherwise, segregation might perpetuate itself, right? Wealthy parents tend to look at test scores and decide to send their children to a school with other wealthy families.
A. Absolutely. If you have a choice without considering elements to promote diversity, that choice will ultimately only lead to more and more segregated schools. If schools that are more segregated and have students from low-income families and students of color receive fewer resources and do not have good test scores, it leads to a downward spiral in the perception of the school.
Sometimes families also fear that their child will not be the only one of a certain ethnic group in a school. This means that even if some families have some choice of schools or where they want to live, they don’t feel like they really have full control over everything. With controlled choice programs, families know that all schools in their area have some level of diversity, so they can actually start making decisions based on other factors.
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