SCHOOL SEGREGATION AND HOUSING MARKETS: LESSONS FROM CONNECTICUT

Regional migration and demographic shifts between metropolitan areas play a significant role in the problem of persistent segregation in American schools, according to new research by Professors John Clapp and Stephen Ross, published in the November 2004 Economic Journal. Their study of school segregation and performance in Connecticut during the 1990s finds that:

• Racial and ethnic school segregation across school districts tends to decline over time. But this tendency towards integration was completely undone during the 1990s by increases in the share of African-American and Hispanic households in urban areas of the state.

• Specifically, the influx of Hispanics into Connecticut and the outflow of whites was an important factor in maintaining the level of ethnic and racial segregation in schools.

• This finding should raise concern among policy-makers given the continuing growth of the US Hispanic population, as well as the continued exodus of white households from urban areas to ex-urban enclaves.

• On a positive note, the analysis suggests that Connecticut housing markets adjusted fairly quickly, and there was little support for the notion that regulation in the owner-occupied market limits the educational opportunities of minority households.
  

The US educational system is characterised by tremendous diversity in terms of both school racial and ethnic composition and performance across school districts, but often by substantial homogeneity within districts especially within smaller suburban districts.

Racial and ethnic segregation across school districts is in part the result of a system in which access to education is primarily accomplished by an individual household’s residential location choice. Access to quality schools and neighbourhoods is effectively purchased when households rent or buy housing, and understanding how the housing market operates is important as policy-makers consider how to address continuing school segregation and educational inequality.

This study examines how school district performance, school segregation, and town housing prices in the owner-occupied market evolved during the 1990s in the state of Connecticut. Connecticut is often highlighted as being very rich and yet having some of the country’s poorest cities.

In fact, even though overall student performance in Connecticut schools is very high, the state has many poorly performing urban school districts and very high levels of segregation across districts. It also has a heavily regulated and developed housing market limiting the opportunities for affordable housing in better performing suburban school districts. As such, the state provides a unique opportunity for considering the obstacles for improved integration of schools in the United States.

ENDS

Notes for editors: ‘Schools and Housing Markets: An Examination of School Segregation and Performance in Connecticut’ by John M. Clapp and Stephen L. Ross is published in the November 2004 issue of the Economic Journal.

The authors are at the University of Connecticut.

For further information:
RES Media Consultant Romesh Vaitilingam on 0117-983-9770 or 07768-661095 (email: romesh@compuserve.com); or
Stephen Ross via email: stephen.l.ross@uconn.edu.