Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

As of 2012, over half of all school districts that had ever been under court-ordered desegregation orders had been released from court oversight. Prior studies have found that districts released from these orders subsequently became increasingly racially segregated, effectively reversing the gains in school integration initiated by the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Utilizing the 2005-2014 American Community Survey (ACS), the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program data, and a unique database of characteristics of districts ever under desegregation orders, this paper explores what happens to community wealth when a federally mandated commitment to the education of minority students is relinquished.

Specifically, this study exploits variation in the timing of release from court ordered desegregation orders to estimate changes in demographics, local property values, and foreclosure rates among households in affected neighborhoods by race/ethnicity and over time. Preliminary findings indicate property values decreased for African American and Hispanic households, while remaining unaffected for white households. Understanding the effects of this reversal of education policy is critical for policymakers seeking to serve vulnerable children and families as effectively as possible.