NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1356439
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Oct
Pages: 40
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2562-783X
The Intersectionality of Educating Black Students in Michigan: Public School Finance, Racial Segregation, and Housing Policy
Caldwell, Phillip, II; Richardson, Jed T.; Smart, Rajah E.; Polega, Meaghan
Journal of Education Human Resources, v40 n4 p524-563 Oct 2022
This research applies critical race theory to investigate Michigan's system for funding public schools, focusing on structural racism and discrimination embedded in education finance laws, housing policies, and residential and educational segregation. We find that the average Black student receiving free or reduced-price lunch (FRL) receives $411 less per pupil per year than the average White student receiving FRL and $783 less than the average White student who does not receive FRL. These disparities stem entirely from differences in locally sourced district revenues that are the result of vast differences in Black-White property wealth. On average, a one-percentage-point increase in a district's proportion of Black students receiving FRL is associated with a $2,354 decrease in taxable value of property per pupil. Our analyses imply that a district enrolling 1,000 Black and FRL students would receive $1,364,000 less annually than an identically sized district with no Black or FRL students. This funding is sufficient to hire 21 additional teachers or to improve salaries, a proven method of improving the number and quality of applicants and retaining quality instructors. Through its continued reliance on local property taxation, the school finance system in Michigan is yet another example of how laws and policies reinforce structural racism and discrimination against Black students. Along with the research literature showing racism's historical and continuing impacts on Black-White property wealth disparities, this study discerns a self-reinforcing system that relegates Blacks to a subordinate socioeconomic status regarding school finance, segregation and housing policy, and discrimination.
University of Toronto Press. 5201 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON M3H 5T8, Canada. Tel: 416-667-7810; Fax: 800-221-9985; Fax: 416-667-7881; e-mail: journals@utpress.utoronco.ca; Web site: https://www.utpjournals.press/loi/jehr
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Michigan
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Brown v Board of Education; Milliken v Bradley
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: American Community Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A