When Public Meets Private: Private School Enrollment and Segregation in Virginia

• In Event: In the Wake of Brown: Local and State Imposition of and Interposition to Diversity Laws

Abstract

Virginia played a crucial role in the expansion of private school enrollment in the South, offering private school tuition vouchers for white families seeking to avoid desegregation. Federal courts continue to make it easier to direct public money toward private schools. With signs of pandemic-related private school enrollment increases, alongside bipartisan support for COVID relief funding now flowing to private schools, it is important to better understand private school segregation. Using biannual federal data on private schools, as well as student exit data, we explore the characteristics of Virginia private school enrollment and segregation over time. We pay particular attention to legacy segregation academies and the relationship between private school exit and enrollment characteristics during the pandemic.

Authors

• Genevieve P. Siegel-Hawley, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Andrene Castro, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Erica Frankenberg, Pennsylvania State University

• Ash Taylor-Beierl, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Kim Bridges, Virginia Commonwealth University