The Emergency School Aid Act, 1970-1981: The Inducement as a Policy Tool for School Desegregation

• In Event: Examining Intergovernmental Assumptions About School Integration

Abstract

This analysis provides a historical case study of the policy tool of inducement. It examines the implementation of the Emergency School Aid Act, a federal school desegregation program from the 1970s. This study applies McDonnell and Elmore’s (1991) theoretical framework of alternative policy instruments to this legislation, analyzing how the policy and its implementation fit the theoretical definition of inducements. The study relies on congressional records and other historical sources, concluding that this program’s effectiveness in eliminating both first and second-generation segregation resulted from combining a financial incentive with rigorous oversight. This program’s use of inducements was a unique experiment in school desegregation policy that offers lessons for the present about the power of financial incentives to motivate behavior.

Author

• Emily Hodge, Montclair State University