School District Consolidation in South Carolina: A Path Toward Racial Equity?

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 3:35 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Beyond the Numbers: Understanding Certification, Identity, and Inclusion in Educational Policy (Table 10)

Abstract

Since 1988, nonwhite students have become more racially isolated from white students, driven by demographic change and increasing segregation between school districts. Importantly, White-Black achievement gaps grow faster in more racially segregated school systems. School district consolidation could theoretically reduce these racial achievement gaps by merging racially disproportionate districts and by increasing educational opportunities through economies of scale in a larger district. Simultaneously, a critical policy analysis framework calls for counternarratives from Black community members to evaluate whether this beneficent rhetoric of consolidation reflects reality, considering potential school closures and a dilution of political power. My research addresses how school district consolidation affected four small and rural South Carolina school districts’ racial segregation levels, instructional spending, and Black political power.

Author

• Mills Jordan, Davidson College