Some Arizona schools have high segregation rates 70 years after Brown v. Board ruling
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On the 70th anniversary Friday of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling, segregation remains a reality in schools across the state and nation, three new reports show.
Why it matters: American public schools are growing more separate and unequal even though the country is more racially and ethnically diverse than ever.
State of play: Arizona has one of the highest rates of segregation between white and nonwhite students in the western U.S., according to a new database from the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University.
- This is driven primarily by Latino segregation, according to an April report from the UCLA Civil Rights Project.
- Nearly 40% of Latino students in Arizona attend a school where less than 10% of their classmates are white, per the report.
The intrigue: White flight to the exurbs has contributed to resegregation, Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project, tells Axios.
Zoom in: A February report from the Civil Rights Project shows that metro Phoenix's urban school districts have more Black and Latino students and fewer white students than suburban districts.
- Between 2010 and 2020, the percentage of Black students in suburban schools fell while urban schools saw a slight increase.
- Both suburban and urban districts saw an increase in the percentage of Latino students during the same time frame — but the percentage of Latino students was still 15 points higher in urban districts during the 2019-2020 school year.
The big picture: The resegregation of America's public schools coincides with the rise of charter schools and school choice options, and with civil rights groups having turned away from desegregation battles.
- Segregated schools disproportionately hurt Black and Latino students since those schools tend to have fewer resources, more teacher shortages, higher student-to-school counselor ratios, and fewer AP class options.
What we're watching: Whether increased school choice options contribute to further segregation.
- Arizona's open enrollment policies and popular private school scholarship programs make it easy for parents to choose the school they want for their children.
- While this is touted as an important tool for expanding student options, critics fear it makes schools even less diverse.