Giving Compass' Take:

• Mark Keierleber reports that school district secessions are accelerating around the United States, creating increasingly segregated districts.

• How can funders help to increase equity between school districts? 

• Learn more about school secessions and racial segregation. 

Several years ago, school district secession efforts received national attention when the community of Gardendale, Alabama, waged a fierce battle against the greater county school system. In a years-long campaign, people in the predominantly white and middle-class Birmingham suburb fought to split from the predominantly black Jefferson County school district.

Ultimately, a court struck down the effort, citing the community’s racial motives. Since then, according to an EdBuild analysis, school district secession efforts across the country have accelerated. EdBuild argues that residents who push to create their own school systems are often motivated by one overarching factor: school funding.

“We are seeing over and over that it’s about the money,” said Zahava Stadler, director of policy at EdBuild, a think tank focused on education funding equity. She pointed to efforts in Malibu, California, to split from a unified district with Santa Monica. “From the outside, it might seem a little bit silly to think there’s a big financial divide between Santa Monica and Malibu, but really when you’re on the ground in that community, there is a difference and it really came down to sharing — or not sharing — the money raised” by parent-teacher associations. The associations typically raise money for a range of school spending, like additional programs, staff or activities, but have also raised equity concerns in recent years.

When one district splits into two, the move often creates a wealthy school system that leaves behind one with high poverty and poor funding. Since 2000, at least 128 communities have launched campaigns to secede from their local school districts to create their own, smaller education systems. Of those, 74 have been successful, 11 of them finalized in just the past few years. Another 16 secession efforts are currently underway.

Read the full article about school district secessions by Mark Keierleber at The 74.