Can We Fix Schools Without Funding Neighborhoods?

On Sunday, NY Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones released “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?” where she detailed the fallout of her and her husband’s decision to send their daughter to a “poor Black school”.

Her reckoning was met with both empathy and condemnation, but by criticizing her individual action, we lose sight of the larger problem: New York City schools are deeply segregated, and high-poverty schools are often among the lowest performing. And because Black families often live in majority-Black districts facing systemic underinvestment, their local schools reflect that economic reality.

Instead of treating our children as soldiers on the front lines of desegregation, shouldn't we focus on how economic development and wealth creation can transform a school's outcomes?

Let’s dive in.

Jared Giles
Founder, SquareOne
[email protected]

The quality of an education system is directly linked to the economic need of the families within it. For example, across New York City's 32 community school districts, economic need alone accounts for roughly three quarters of the difference in reading proficiency across districts.

For decades, New York has had some of the most segregated school districts in the United States, with many attendance zones still bound to the redlined maps drawn almost 90 years ago. And because those Black and Hispanic communities have traditionally received less investment than their peers, schools with majority Black and Hispanic populations tend to perform worse (though some districts like District 16 in Bedford-Stuyvesant are an exception).

Continued poor performance and articles like those from Nikole Hannah-Jones have sparked renewed calls for integration within our public schools. And while I understand the reflex to view integration as a solution for our broken system and desire to expose students to the wider world, race and wealth are fundamentally different in the United States today than they were in 1954 after Brown v. Board. We need a strategy that reflects this reality while prioritizing the safety, well-being, and academic success of our children.

The city’s own data tells the story: seven in ten Black and Hispanic students in New York City attend a school where at least 75% of their classmates face economic hardship. For white students, it’s one in four. On its own, New York City Public Schools cannot close the educational gap experienced by Hannah-Jones’s daughter. Parents will and should always do what's best for their kids. Changing the system was never their job, and no single family's choice could have done it.

There may be no better way to understand how poverty, or the lack thereof, impacts a school’s opportunities than Parent Teacher Associations. PTA fundraising varies wildly across the city: in District 2 the PTAs collectively brought in $18 million, more than 600 times greater than District 23, which raised $29,000. That money can be used to fund tutors, arts or afterschool programs, teaching assistants, and test prep, including preparation for the Specialized High School Admissions Test. Localized poverty prevents financial resources from reaching a school, leaving under-resourced schools to shoulder immense burdens without committed parent support.

When read together, it is not at all surprising that only 10% of offers to specialized high schools went to Black and Hispanic students (3.5% and 6.5% respectively). If a majority of those students attend schools in communities with high levels of economic need, it is unlikely that the school will be able to provide or that the PTA will be able to fundraise for the resources students need to prepare for the rigorous admissions exam (not to mention all of the other supports a well-resourced school can afford before students sit for the exam).

And when out of options, Black families leave New York City to find better opportunities for themselves and their children.

No parent, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, should have to sacrifice their child’s education for the good of all. The responsibility falls on the city and the school system to ensure parents do not have to.

I don’t blame Nikole Hannah-Jones and her husband for believing that they could be different. Their daughter should have been able to receive a quality education from any school in her community, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure every community receives an investment that will lower its economic need and addresses the systemic economic issues plaguing its residents. Schools should be funded, and parents should be able to provide additional support in any way they see fit. And if we push to integrate our schools, the money should follow.

How do we align housing and local economic development directly with an education system? Look at purpose built communities like East Lake in Atlanta.

While East Lake paints part of the picture, we must also learn to build anew without displacing residents.

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