Racial Disparities in School Poverty and Spending: Examining Allocations Within Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

Racially segregated schools influence the distribution of educational opportunity. When students of different races enroll in separate schools, systematic differences in access to school resources and exposure to high levels of student need can emerge. Using recently available national school-level finance data, we find that typical Black and Hispanic students attend schools with higher per-pupil spending but also higher proportions of low-income students and English learners than typical White students living in the same metropolitan area. Drawing on estimates of the additional spending required to provide high-need students with equal educational opportunities, we find that cost-adjusted spending in the average Black and Hispanic students’ schools ranges from zero to 17.2% less than that in the average White students’ schools. Racial disparities in cost-adjusted spending are larger in the largest metropolitan areas and in the Northeast, indicating that many Black and Hispanic students are disadvantaged by these inequities.