![\"Funding](\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/school-taxes-and-real-estate-funding.png\")
<\/a>How are schools funded? The connection between schools, taxes, and real estate<\/h2>\n
U.S. schools are funded in a few different ways.<\/p>\n
First, there\u2019s federal funding for all public schools. The U.S. government sets certain educational requirements that schools have to meet, and it contributes money to public schools so they can reach those goals.<\/p>\n
Note, however, that the U.S. Constitution leaves the burden of schooling K through 12th grade<\/a> primarily on states and municipalities \u2014 the federal government contributes around 8% to the average school budget.<\/p>\n States also contribute funding to public schools, though the level of aid varies depending on the state.<\/p>\n Finally, municipalities kick in the rest of the money to fund public schools, and one big way they do this is through property taxes. In fact, research finds that nearly half of all funding for schools in the U.S. is generated by local taxes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Property taxes are based on assessed home values, and values vary widely from town to town. That means ultimately, wealthy towns are able to put significantly more money into their schools than low-income towns. Further, towns with more businesses often collect more taxes and then are able to funnel some of that money into schools.<\/p>\n Across the U.S., the average high-poverty district spends 15.6% less per student<\/a> than the average low-poverty district. But in some states, the rift can be much larger. For example, in Pennsylvania, that gap is more like 33%.<\/p>\n \u201cSmall districts can have the effect of concentrating resources and amplifying political power,\u201d shares a recent report by EdBuild<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause schools rely heavily on local taxes, drawing borders around small, wealthy communities benefits the few at the detriment of the many.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The school funding system provides advantages for children attending school in wealthier school districts, and it also perpetuates disadvantages for children in lower-income areas. School inequality can result in poor outcomes for those low-income students, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty.<\/p>\n And of course, this system disproportionately disadvantages students of color<\/a>, especially Black and Latino children.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a huge divide in school funding across the U.S., but the divide isn\u2019t just about wealth; it\u2019s also very much about race. Recent research by EdBuild found that white schools get $23 billion more in funding<\/a> than non-white schools, even though they serve the same number of students.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents in poor nonwhite districts receive substantially less money than even their poor white peers, despite years of court rulings intended to create a level playing field for all students,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at some school funding numbers<\/a>:<\/p>\n That means the average white school district receives $2,226 more per student<\/i> than the average non-white district. And even in low-income white school districts, each student gets $782 more in funding than students in wealthier non-white districts.<\/p>\n Compounding the inequality is the fact that white districts tend to enroll fewer students. The average white school district enrolls around 1,500 students, while the average non-white school district enrolls more than 10,000 students.<\/p>\n Having both more money and fewer students is a powerful combination, with distinct advantages for certain families.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Local control\u2019 of taxes benefits only the privileged few \u2014 small white districts created by arbitrary lines that can raise unfettered money for their schools,\u201d EdBuild explains<\/a>. \u201cAs a general rule, states haven\u2019t kept up with the gaps created by an inherently unequal distribution of wealth in a racially fractured society.”<\/p>\n The bottom line<\/b>: School districts that are predominantly white get more funding per student overall, regardless of income levels. Meanwhile, non-white schools are at a major funding disadvantage.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s indulge in a little history lesson. For much of U.S. history, schools were segregated by law, meaning white students and Black students were forced to learn separately.<\/p>\n In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregated, so-called \u201cseparate-but-equal\u201d educations were unconstitutional in the landmark decision Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka<\/i>. This ruling ended forced segregation. In a separate ruling in 1955, Brown II<\/i>, the Supreme Court urged the U.S. to desegregate schools with “all deliberate speed.”<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, however, desegregation efforts didn\u2019t happen overnight.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead, white parents left for the suburbs, created Christian schools, formed White Citizens\u2019 Councils<\/a> and filed lawsuits,\u201d explains<\/a> Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, author of The Voting Rights War<\/a> and professor of constitutional law at John Jay College (CUNY). \u201cVirginia even closed its public schools to avoid desegregation.\u201d<\/p>\n One important policy that helped desegregate schools in the wake of Brown<\/i> was busing, a practice that was protected by the Supreme Court in 1971. Busing meant bringing students \u2014 typically Black students \u2014 into white school districts to create more integration.<\/p>\n Busing and other integration efforts persisted for decades and showed some really promising outcomes. In fact, decades of studies show that integration has positive outcomes<\/a> for students of all races<\/i> (more on those benefits later).<\/p>\n But many white families didn\u2019t see it that way and continued to bring anti-integration cases to the courts, arguing that forcing integration was discriminating against white students.<\/p>\n The courts, in turn, have all but upended desegregation efforts. For example, a 1999 case ended court-ordered busing<\/a>, and by 2007 the Supreme Court ruled that even voluntary busing amounted to discrimination against white students, putting the final nail in the coffin on decades of school desegregation efforts.<\/p>\n Today, it\u2019s considered unconstitutional for schools to make race-based student enrollment plans<\/a> meant to achieve integration.<\/p>\n So just how segregated are America\u2019s schools since Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka<\/i>?<\/p>\n It turns out, the U.S. as a whole is nearly as segregated as it was<\/a> 50 years ago, and school segregation is now getting worse<\/a>.<\/p>\n Recent research reveals that more than half of America\u2019s children attend school in racially concentrated districts<\/a>, meaning 75% or more of the students in a school are of the same race. Another study found that around one in five public schools has almost no non-white<\/a> students.<\/p>\n \u201cThe racial and economic segregation created by gerrymandered school district boundaries continues to divide our communities and rob our nation\u2019s children of fundamental freedoms and opportunity,\u201d Edbuild explains<\/a>.<\/p>\n They go on: \u201cFamilies with money or status can retain both by drawing and upholding invisible lines. Many families do just that. This, in conjunction with housing segregation, ensures that \u2014 rather than a partial remedy \u2014 district geographies serve to further entrench society\u2019s deep divisions of opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n One big thing that plays into school funding: property taxes. And how are property taxes assigned? They\u2019re determined by home values.<\/p>\n Home values in non-white neighborhoods are lower and appreciate much less quickly than homes in white neighborhoods.<\/p>\n A recent Brookings Institution report<\/a> found that \u201cin the average U.S. metropolitan area, homes in neighborhoods where the share of the population is 50 percent black are valued at roughly half the price as homes in neighborhoods with no black residents.\u201d<\/p>\n The report further explains: \u201cHomes of similar quality in neighborhoods with similar amenities are worth 23 percent less ($48,000 per home on average, amounting to $156 billion in cumulative losses) in majority-black neighborhoods, compared to those with very few or no black residents.\u201d<\/p>\n Further, the Black neighborhoods that suffer this property devaluation are more segregated, and the children who live in them have far less upward mobility.<\/p>\n The devaluation of Black property has huge consequences for schools that rely on property values \u2014 and their ensuing tax dollars \u2014 to provide funding for students. With municipalities contributing up to half of school budgets, lowered property values mean far less money is funneled into Black schools compared with white schools.<\/p>\n Homes in Black neighborhoods appreciate less quickly \u2014 if they appreciate in value at all. In most cities, homes in Black-owned neighborhoods actually depreciate<\/i> in value<\/a>, even as home values appreciate nationally.<\/p>\n A recent study by the American Center for Progress<\/a> found that \u201cracial disparities in home appreciation have persisted nationally even in the aftermath of the Great Recession, despite a general increase in home prices.\u201d<\/p>\n The study continues: \u201cIn 2017, home prices in neighborhoods where black borrowers have concentrated since 2013 were 6 percent lower than in 2006. Home prices in census tracts attracting white homeowners, in contrast, have increased by 3 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n These findings held true even after controlling for borrowers\u2019 income levels.<\/p>\n \u201cAs homebuyers tend to look for housing options in communities where they anticipate greater capital gains, discrimination and low housing appreciation disproportionately harm largely black neighborhoods,\u201d the study concludes.<\/p>\n School funding can have big effects on test scores. Namely, the more money a school district has, the better it tends to perform on tests.<\/p>\n For example, in the richest school districts, research shows that sixth-grade students are roughly four grade levels ahead of students<\/a> in the poorest districts.<\/p>\n A massive National Bureau of Economic Research education study found that more school funding consistently results in better outcomes<\/a> for students, including higher test scores, better graduation rates, and the potential for increased earnings later on in life.<\/p>\n A study out of Texas similarly found that an extra $1,000 of funding per student<\/a> raised test scores, lowered dropout rates by 2%, increased college enrollment by 9%, and improved the college graduation rate by 4%. The results were even more pronounced in areas of high poverty.<\/p>\n Another recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that a 20% increase in spending per low-income student can result in<\/a> an additional year of education, 25% higher earnings, and a 20% reduction in annual incidences of poverty.<\/p>\n These positive educational outcomes can have long-standing positives for low-income families and can help pull families out of generational poverty.<\/p>\n Increased spending isn\u2019t the only way to improve educational outcomes. It\u2019s been long understood that integrated learning has distinct benefits for students of all races, but we\u2019re still uncovering just how multifaceted and widespread these benefits are.<\/p>\n Recent research by the Century Foundation found students in diverse classrooms enjoy a wide range of benefits<\/a>:<\/p>\n The increasing segregation of schools is creating a unique problem for districts to solve: How do they integrate and improve outcomes when they can\u2019t make race-based integration plans?<\/p>\n To that end, a few school districts around the nation have created innovative models<\/a> that could offer some potential solutions to this sticky problem.<\/p>\n In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the school system is now a \u201ccontrolled choice\u201d system. Neighborhood schools don\u2019t exist, and every school in this district has a mix of high- and low-income students that reflect the makeup of the community.<\/p>\n In San Antonio, Texas, they\u2019re opening high-quality, specialized schools that will attract students from all walks of life. The schools strive to balance the student body by socioeconomic status. Their plan has already seen huge improvements in student performance, and the number of overall students attending low performing schools dropped from 47% to just 16%.<\/p>\n New York City, known as one of the most segregated school systems in the country, is now changing its ways. Some of the city\u2019s most affluent districts are now running lottery systems for schools, allowing more diverse students in and busing more affluent students out.<\/p>\n Another model that\u2019s recently popped up to help improve education for Black students in low-income neighborhoods? Afrocentric schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n These schools are run primarily by people of color and are race-affirming for Black students. They teach Black history, celebrate Black bodies, and improve self-esteem for Black students. They also tend to have higher graduation rates and standardized test scores than city averages.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s important for cities to take a hard look at the segregation in their schools, the issues of disparate real estate values, property taxes, and schools are about more than school integration.<\/p>\n They\u2019re also about the real estate industry as a whole \u2014 real estate agents steering buyers<\/a>, discriminatory mortgage lending<\/a>, home appraisal bias<\/a>, the long-standing effects of redlining<\/a>, and persisting white flight<\/a>, among other contributing factors.<\/p>\n Until the industry works to solve the structural imbalances for non-white homeowners, these disparities will continue to exist.<\/p>\n Header Image Source: (Cynthia Farmer \/ ShutterStock)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" America\u2019s schools are becoming increasingly segregated. Learn how home values and property taxes affect school quality and why it matters for homeowners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":19061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,620,697],"tags":[718],"class_list":["post-19045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-buyers","category-buy-house","category-market-news","tag-racial-justice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe great school funding divide<\/h2>\n
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<\/a>Segregated schools<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Home values in segregated neighborhoods<\/h2>\n
Black-owned homes see less appreciation<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nHow does school funding affect test scores?<\/h2>\n
The benefits of integrated learning<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Looking for solutions to school segregation<\/h2>\n
Industry-wide reform is needed<\/h2>\n