Hi #APPAM2025! I'm presenting my JMP on segregation academies this morning with some other great work on school stratification by income and race -- would love to see folks there!

📍Grand Hyatt, Leonesa 3
⏰ 10:15 - 11:45 AM

Total public funding fell by ~10%, driven by declines in local and state dollars.

But per-pupil revenue stayed roughly constant, propped up by federal aid.

Public education survived, but became smaller, poorer, and more segregated.

9/12

2️⃣ Segregation academies caused large and persistent declines in enrollment:

In Alabama & Louisiana, white public enrollment fell by ~31%.

Black enrollment doesn't change!

(Guided by a simple model of parental choice, we identify this effect using variation in locations and founding years)

6/12

1️⃣ Over 650 schools opened across our sample states.

They emerged in places with:
⬆️ Larger Black populations
🗳️ Stronger 1948 support for a segregationist candidate

(Unlike other private schools, which clustered in 🏙️ wealthier urban areas 💰)

5/12

My JMP, coauthored with @withrowjenny.bsky.social, asks:

1️⃣ Where and why did these schools open?

2️⃣ How did they affect the provision of public schooling?

3️⃣ What were the long-run effects on kids who grew up near them?

3/12

The student attended a "segregation academy," an all-white private school established in the 1950s, 60s, or 70s to maintain school segregation.

We know little about how these schools, called "the most important form of local resistance", affected public schools and students.

2/12