The deconcentration of minority students attending bad schools: The role of housing affordability within school attendance zones containing good schools

Abstract

One of the major concerns with public education in the U.S. is that black and Hispanic students are concentrated in low performing schools where most of the students come from poor families. Underlying this concern is evidence showing that minorities perform better on standardized exams if they attend non-poor schools. One strategy to deconcentrate minorities within poor or low performing schools is to open up affordable housing opportunities within better school attendance zones (SAZs). In this paper I examine the efficacy of this approach using data on Florida elementary schools. I find that shifts in the proportion of a school district's affordable units in favor of better SAZs decrease the concentration of both black and Hispanic students in bad schools. However, different types of affordable units matter depending on the race of students and the definition of what constitutes a good school.