Protection of Privilege: The Segregation of Public Schools Through Land Use Regulations

Jessica Trounstine (Vanderbilt University) will present, “Protection of Privilege: The Segregation of Public Schools Through Land Use Regulations” as part of the CPR Seminar Series.

Abstract:

Since the 1980s, schools in the United States have become increasingly segregated along race and class lines. Scholars understand that the underlying driver of this pattern is residential segregation along race and class lines.  I propose that exclusive communities seek governmental policies that protect residential segregation (like banning multifamily homes in their neighborhood) to ensure race and class homogeneity in schools.  I use a novel dataset of more than 2 million parcels in the Bay Area of California and find that neighborhoods that were privileged in the 1940s are much more likely to have restrictive zoning today.  As a result, housing types are geographically segregated in these communities.  I find that the application of different development standards to different neighborhoods is strongly associated with race and class segregation across schools.  Zoning segregation explains 27-32% of the total variation in race and class segregation within school districts.