Study of School District Borders Shows US, AL Economic Segregation

 ========= Old Image Removed =========1Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM.png
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:774;s:6:"height";i:582;s:4:"file";s:49:"2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM.png";s:5:"sizes";a:12:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-336x253.png";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:253;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-771x580.png";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:580;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-140x140.png";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-768x577.png";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:577;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:47:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-80x80.png";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-600x338.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-600x582.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:582;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-414x311.png";s:5:"width";i:414;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-352x265.png";s:5:"width";i:352;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-600x400.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-600x582.png";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:582;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-125x125.png";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:9:"image/png";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => EdBuild
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:1018175;s:14:"optimized_size";i:288361;s:7:"percent";d:71.680000000000007;}s:5:"sizes";a:10:{s:4:"full";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:77:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM.png";s:13:"original_size";i:141731;s:14:"optimized_size";i:59643;s:7:"percent";d:57.920000000000002;}s:9:"thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:85:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-140x140.png";s:13:"original_size";i:20034;s:14:"optimized_size";i:5496;s:7:"percent";d:72.569999999999993;}s:6:"medium";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:85:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-336x253.png";s:13:"original_size";i:71243;s:14:"optimized_size";i:20542;s:7:"percent";d:71.170000000000002;}s:5:"large";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:85:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-771x580.png";s:13:"original_size";i:353427;s:14:"optimized_size";i:83952;s:7:"percent";d:76.25;}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:83:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-80x80.png";s:13:"original_size";i:6455;s:14:"optimized_size";i:1735;s:7:"percent";d:73.120000000000005;}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:85:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-600x338.png";s:13:"original_size";i:165572;s:14:"optimized_size";i:40285;s:7:"percent";d:75.670000000000002;}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:85:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-300x300.png";s:13:"original_size";i:72750;s:14:"optimized_size";i:21889;s:7:"percent";d:69.909999999999997;}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:85:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-414x311.png";s:13:"original_size";i:84474;s:14:"optimized_size";i:24288;s:7:"percent";d:71.25;}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:85:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-352x265.png";s:13:"original_size";i:85832;s:14:"optimized_size";i:26209;s:7:"percent";d:69.459999999999994;}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:85:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016-08-22_at_11.59.00_PM-125x125.png";s:13:"original_size";i:16657;s:14:"optimized_size";i:4322;s:7:"percent";d:74.049999999999997;}}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => success
        )

)
1637565274 
1471910823

EdBuild

A wide body of research shows that students in poor school districts face real disadvantages. But the way the U.S. funds schools creates pockets of poverty right next to enclaves of wealth. That’s one conclusion of a report being released today by the nonprofit group EdBuild. It analyzed the nation’s 33,500 school district borders and then ranked the 50 that reflect and perpetuate economic segregation the most.

In Alabama, there are seven borders ranked in that 50, one of them between Hoover and Bessemer, the other six surrounding Birmingham City Schools. If the city were a state, it would have the second-most of any state in the nation. Birmingham has a particularly convoluted school district, bordering 13 others while the national average is five. The district is shaped the way it is partly because of a long history of “white-flight” systems seceding.

By the report’s metrics, Birmingham schools have a nearly 50 percent student poverty rate, but nearby Vestavia Hills, for example, is at about six percent, for an over-the-district-border difference of 44 percent. The average difference nationally is seven percent.

Property values, which affect the amount of available local money (which comes with fewer restrictions than state or federal money) skew significantly in favor of the suburbs, too.

The report attributes so much disparity to breakaway school systems, reliance on property taxes, and court rulings that have thwarted across-district desegregation efforts.

“The entire system is crazy,” says EdBuild founder and CEO Rebecca Sibilia. “People very rarely think about the use of school district boundaries as a means of state-sanctioned segregation … but when it comes to school districts, your neighbors matter.”

The report notes that whole-county school systems, and larger tax pools in general, tend to smooth out disparities between districts.

For a good national overview of the report, click here. To download the entire report, click here.

 

United Nations nuclear agency again condemns Iran for failing to fully cooperate

The resolution comes after the agency said Iran has defied demands to rein in its nuclear program and has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Alabama carries out nation’s 3rd nitrogen gas execution

An Alabama man convicted in the 1994 killing of a hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation's third execution using nitrogen gas.

Trump names former Florida AG Pam Bondi as his new pick for U.S. attorney general

After former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration, President-elect Donald Trump named Pam Bondi, a former attorney general of Florida, as his next pick for U.S. attorney general.

Police report gives details, timeline of the sexual assault claim against Pete Hegseth

The woman who accused then-Fox News host of sexual assault in 2017 said that she "remembered saying 'no' a lot," according to a police report. Hegseth is President-elect Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of Defense.

Alabama Black Belt’s sewer crisis a tougher fix for residents in manufactured homes

Poor sanitation has long plagued residents in Alabama’s Black Belt. For people with manufactured houses, finding a solution has been more challenging.

In Birmingham, Black men’s groups work to save young men from the cycle of gun violence

As the city inches closer to its homicide record, community members are trying to address a sense of fatalism and lack of opportunity felt by some young men.

More Education Coverage