It seems very difficult for our elected State representatives to publicly recognize and discuss the extent of socio-economic and racial segregation in New Jersey public schools. Most children in urban, suburban or rural districts, go to school with children of their own economic class and race. Governor Corzine recognized this reality in comments he made to the Leadership New Jersey Graduate Organization during a discussion at the studios of New Jersey Network in Trenton on October 4, 2006.

"The problem is real," said Corzine as reported by the Star Ledger. "We have re-segregated our schools. I hope that people will recognize it and be willing to take steps to combat those problems."

The intense segregation in our schools is well documented. A 2003 study by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (Harvard CRP), for example, ranks New Jersey fourth in the nation in segregated schools for African American students after Michigan, New York and Illinois. We’re fourth again in segregated schools for Latino students after New York, Texas and California.

According to the study, half of New Jersey’s black students and almost 41% of the Latino students attended minority-dominated schools in the 2000-01 school year. The study found the "emergence of a substantial group of American schools that are virtually all non-white. . . . [T]hese schools educate . . . one fourth of black students in the Northeast and Midwest. These are often schools where enormous poverty, limited resources and social and health problems of many types are concentrated." ¹

Consider the racial and economic characteristics of our urban districts with more than 10,000 students: each is predominantly African American and Hispanic (see below). None has more than 10% white students, even though more than 50% of students statewide are white. Concentration of poverty is equally significant with eight of ten districts having students in poverty in excess of 70%.

The comparison of the urban districts with affluent suburban districts – classified by the NJ Department of Education as District Factor Group "I and J" districts -- is stark: on average, the suburban I and J districts are 79% white with only 4.9% and 4.1% African American and Latino students, respectively. The poverty rate in these districts is only 3.6%.

If student achievement across racial and economic lines was comparable, than the racial and economic segregation of our schools might not be important. Clearly, however, this is not the case as a disproportionately large number of schools that are not meeting State and NCLB progress benchmarks are predominately poor and minority.

Race and wealth matter in our society. In its 2005 report entitled, "Why Segregation Matters, Poverty and Educational Inequality," authors Gary Orfield and Chungmei Lee of the Harvard CRP stated,

Achievement scores are strongly linked to school racial composition and so is the presence of highly qualified and experienced teachers. The nation’s shockingly high dropout problem is squarely concentrated in heavily minority high schools in big cities. The high level of poverty among children, together with many housing policies and practices which excludes poor people from most communities, mean that students in inner city schools face isolation not only from the white community but also from middle class schools. Minority children are far more likely than whites to grow up in persistent poverty.

The public debate in the Legislature now underway about school district consolidation and school funding offer a real opportunity for New Jersey to confront and address this serious educational issue.

¹ A Multiracial Society with Segregated Schools: Are We Losing the Dream? The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu/research/reseg03/resegregation03.php

Prepared: October 24, 2006

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