蜜桃影视

New York state鈥檚 traditional public schools are the most segregated in the nation, with children of color often shut out of coveted schools, according to a new report.

The report, released this month by the education reform nonprofit Available to All, builds off The new report found overlaps and similarities among dozens of redlining maps from 1938 with school attendance zones in New York City, Long Island, Westchester County as well as upstate cities, such as Albany, Buffalo and Niagara Falls.听

The report also identified New York as 鈥渙ne of many states where a parent can be arrested and criminally charged for using an incorrect address to get their child into a high-quality school,鈥� with one such incident occurring as recently as .听

The state鈥檚 laws and regulations make it 鈥渙ne of the strictest systems of residential assignment in the country,鈥� the report said, adding it limits a to take advantage of 鈥� a practice that allows students to attend public schools outside their assigned district.

鈥淭here鈥檚 this paradox of New York, where it’s run by progressive politicians, it鈥檚 a very democratic state,鈥� said Tim DeRoche, founder of Available to All, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 the most segregated.鈥�

Across the United States it鈥檚 common for sections of the same town or city, neighborhoods and streets to have communities that look vastly different from one another because of historical government-led housing segregation.

Redlining, the practice of drawing boundaries around neighborhoods based on race and denying mortgage assistance to areas considered 鈥渉azardous鈥� or “undesirable” typically housing people of color, was more than 50 years ago. Despite this, many public services, including , still perpetuate inequitable access to resources and opportunity based on housing.

While school districts themselves are drawn through legislative processes, districts are often given autonomy when drawing attendance zones for schools. Both boundaries, the report said, 鈥渃arry on the legacy of redlining in New York.鈥�

鈥淧ublic schools must be 鈥�,鈥� and 鈥� if you look at the system we have across the country, you can see that we are falling so far short of that 鈥� and the primary reason for that is that we assign kids to schools based on their address,鈥� DeRoche said. 

The report used Public School 19 and Public School 16 as examples. Both schools are in the north Bronx鈥檚 school District 11 and are located about a mile from one another 鈥� a 20-minute walk 鈥� but serve contrasting populations.

The Bronx

Attendance zone boundaries for P.S. 19 鈥渕irror, almost perfectly, the area deemed to be 鈥榙esirable鈥� by the racist redlining map drawn by federal government bureaucrats in 1938,鈥� the report said. Whereas P.S. 16鈥檚 boundaries fell directly in a declining area, according to the 1938 map.

The remnants of redlining are echoed in both schools鈥� data 鈥� where P.S. 19 educates a population that is 43% Black and Latino and two-thirds low income, with 62% reading proficiency. That compares to P.S 16鈥檚 88% Black and Latino student body, 95% of whom are low income with grade level reading just over 30%.

Schools like P.S. 19 鈥渂ecome almost quasi-private schools,鈥� DeRoche said.

There were many examples across the New York City Public Schools system, as well as several upstate school districts.

Manhattan

Queens

鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to find a place [in New York] that’s not segregated or a school district that’s not experiencing either racial segregation or some sense of class segregation,鈥� said Kris DeFilippis, a former assistant superintendent in the New York City Department of Education, who is now a clinical professor at New York University. 鈥淣ot much has changed. 鈥� Wherever those lines were drawn [in the 1930s], it has largely stayed the same, unless there’s been a movement toward gentrification.鈥�

In Albany, New York鈥檚 capital, New Scotland Elementary School was zoned over neighborhoods identified as desirable in 1938. The school serves a student population that is less than half Black or brown (41%) and low-income (47%) with reading scores near 60%.听

Just about two miles away at Giffen Memorial Elementary School, more than three-quarters of students are Black and Hispanic (84%) and qualify for free and reduced priced lunch (84%). Less than a quarter of students at Giffen Memorial read on grade level (21%).

Much of Giffen Memorial鈥檚 attendance zone lines up with 1938 redlining declining areas.

Albany

鈥淵ou wouldn’t see these massive gaps [in demographics and student achievement] between two schools two miles away 鈥� if those two schools were truly open to kids,鈥� DeRoche said. 鈥淭he government has to be enforcing that in some way. How are they enforcing it? Well, they’re enforcing it with these maps. The kids on the wrong side of the line aren’t eligible to go to the public school that’s a mile [or two] from their home.鈥�

In upstate New York, while there鈥檚 access to charter and magnet schools, school choice within a district is limited among traditional public schools. Students are generally required to go to the school in their attendance zone, 鈥渦nless there are exceeding circumstances,鈥� DeFilippis said, 鈥渂ut that is rare, it just doesn’t happen.鈥�

In New York City, 鈥渋t鈥檚 a bit different,鈥� DeFilippis continued. Students typically attend a local elementary school before choice options open up in middle and high school grades across the metropolitan area  鈥� creating its own challenges and limitations when it comes to admission to later grades.

鈥淭here鈥檚 almost like a false narrative that in New York City students can go where they want,鈥� DeFilippis said, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 not entirely accurate.鈥�

For a student, traveling across the city to attend a school that works best for them can be difficult and it may also be challenging to get into competitive schools because they 鈥渉aven’t had the same experiences at the lower grades that their peers have had,鈥� DeFillipis said. So, ultimately, the current setup, 鈥渄oes not lead to equitable outcomes for Black and brown students, or low-income students, at all.鈥�

The report recommended possible solutions for lawmakers to consider, such as decriminalizing address sharing, requiring every public school to reserve at least 15% of seats for students who live outside the zone and allowing students to enroll in any public school within a three-mile radius of the child鈥檚 home.

The underlying principle, DeRoche said, is to 鈥渏ust decrease the link between where you live and which schools you鈥檙e allowed to attend.鈥�

鈥淭hese policies have been bad, not just for educational opportunity, but I think they’ve affected urban development and I think they’ve affected how our cities work and don’t work,鈥� DeRoche said.

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