New York State’s Extreme School Segregation:Inequality, Inaction and a Damaged Future
New York has the most segregated schools in the country: in 2009, black and Latino students in the state had the highest concentration in intensely-segregated public schools (less than 10% white enrollment), the lowest exposure to white students, and the most uneven distribution with white students across schools. Heavily impacting these state rankings is New York City, home to the largest and one of the most segregated public school systems in the nation.
Forty years ago, school desegregation was a serious component of the state’s education policy, as a result of community pressure and legal cases. Key desegregation cases arose throughout a number of segregated communities. The U.S. Justice Department case in Yonkers was the first in history to combine housing desegregation and school desegregation claims simultaneously. The remedy for the school desegregation case in Rochester led to one of the country’s eight existing voluntary interdistrict programs. The magnet school plan for the school desegregation case in Buffalo was hailed as a model for other similar cities across the country. In New York City, a citywide desegregation case was never brought but community control of local schools sometimes helped integration efforts, as many school officials and community members challenged practices and policies that perpetuated racial imbalance and educational inequity across schools.
Forty years ago, school desegregation was a serious component of the state’s education policy, as a result of community pressure and legal cases. Key desegregation cases arose throughout a number of segregated communities. The U.S. Justice Department case in Yonkers was the first in history to combine housing desegregation and school desegregation claims simultaneously. The remedy for the school desegregation case in Rochester led to one of the country’s eight existing voluntary interdistrict programs. The magnet school plan for the school desegregation case in Buffalo was hailed as a model for other similar cities across the country. In New York City, a citywide desegregation case was never brought but community control of local schools sometimes helped integration efforts, as many school officials and community members challenged practices and policies that perpetuated racial imbalance and educational inequity across schools.
In light of these efforts, local and political resistance influenced New York’s history of school desegregation. Around the tim
