Creating equitable outcomes in a segregated state

In 2018, a coalition of civil rights groups in New Jersey filed a lawsuit demanding the state develop a plan to desegregate all public schools. The suit argues that New Jersey state laws institutionalize segregation by requiring children to attend schools in local municipalities that are themselves highly segregated. Potential remedies called for in the suit include enabling students to enroll in schools across municipal lines and requiring the state to develop a comprehensive plan to integrate schools.  

Segregation in New Jersey (as in other parts of the country) has gotten worse for many students in recent decades. Between 1989 and 2015, the percentage of New Jersey students in intensely segregated schools (schools with a student population where no more than 10% of the students are White) nearly doubled from 11% to 20%, and the proportion of schools serving a majority non-White student population more than doubled from 22% to 46%. Facts like these contribute to New Jersey’s designation as the sixth most segregated state for Black students and the seventh most segregated for Latinx students (Orfield et al., 2017).