Grosse Pointe, Detroit Schools Most Economically Segregated in U.S.: Report

GROSSE POINTE, MI — Nowhere in the country is the economic disparity between school boundaries worse than it is between Grosse Pointe and Detroit, according to a new report released Tuesday by a New Jersey nonprofit that advocates for education financing reform.

EdBuilder’s report, “Fault Lines: America’s Most Segregating School District Borders,” says that nearly half — 49.2 percent — of Detroit’s students live in poverty, while across the border in Grosse Pointe, only 6.5 percent of students are impoverished. Poverty means a family of four lives on $24,000 a year or less.

The report also cited boundaries between two other school districts, including Flint and Swartz Creek in Genesee County, which ranked 26th in the study. In the Flint City School District, 54.5 percent of students live in poverty, compared with 17.2 percent in Swartz Creek Community Schools.

In western Michigan, the pairing of Benton Harbor Area Schools and St. Joseph Public Schools ranked 36th. In Benton Harbor, 42.8 percent of students live in poverty, while 7.5 percent of students in St. Joseph are impoverished.

“The chasms between our school districts are growing wider,” the report said. “Today, half of America’s children live in high-poverty school districts, where they are more likely to experience poor health, be exposed to violence, and attend schools in decaying buildings.

“This is not always due to a lack of resources in the area, however; often, these high-poverty districts border affluent areas where better-off students benefit from greater funding.”

The report said that the 1974 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Milliken v. Bradley “actually strengthened the hand of segregationists.”

In that ruling, the justices held that integration plans may not be enforced across school district borders, clearing the way for district borders to be used as lawful tools of segregation.

“Income segregation in the Detroit metropolitan area parallels the racial segregation that inspired the Milliken case and has worsened since the case was first argued,” according to the report, which also said:

“Because property taxes play such an important role in school funding, well-off communities have an interest in school district borders that fence off their own neighborhoods from lower-wealth areas and needier students — and most states’ laws allow this kind of self-segregation.”

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According to 2010 U.S. Census data, 82.7 percent of Detroit’s population is African-American. Only one of the five communities making up the Grosse Pointe Public Schools, Harper Woods, has a high percentage of African-Americans:

• Grosse Pointe Farms: 1.8 percent
• Grosse Pointe: 3.3 percent
• Grosse Pointe Woods: 4.5 percent
• Grosse Pointe Park: 10.5 percent
• Harper Woods: 45.6 percent

EdBuilder analyzed more than 33,500 individual borders for its report.

America’s Most Economically Segregated Borders

Alabama had the No. 2 and No. 3 most economically disparate borders. The Birmingham City School District, where 49 percent of children are impoverished, borders with Vestavia Hills City School District, with only a 6 percent poverty rate, and Mountain Brock City School District, with a 7 percent poverty rate.

Rounding out the Top 10:

No. 4: In Pennsylvania, the Clairton City School District, with a 49 percent poverty rate, compared with the neighboring Beavercreek City School District in Ohio, with a 7 percent poverty rate.

No. 5: In Ohio, the Dayton City School District, with a 47 percent poverty rate, compared with the Beavercreek City School District, with a 7 percent poverty rate.

No. 6: In Arizona, the Balsz Elementary School District, with a 51 percent poverty rate, compared with the Scottsdale Unified District, with an 11 percent poverty rate.

No. 7: In Ohio, the Dayton City School District, with a 47 percent poverty rate, compared with the Oakwood City School District, with a 7 percent poverty rate.

No. 8: In Ohio, Youngstown City School District, with a 46 percent poverty rate, compared with Poland Local School District 6, with a 7 percent poverty rate.

No. 9: in Colorado, the Sheridan School District 2, with a 49 percent poverty rate, compared with the Littleton School District 8, with a 9 percent poverty rate.

No. 10: In Illinois, the Cliff Barstow School District 36, with a 45 percent poverty rate, compared with the Geneseo Community Unit School District 228, with a 6 percent poverty rate.

Image: Grosse Pointe South High School by M Gleason via Flickr / Creative Commons