Giving Compass' Take:

• The author discusses the need for policymakers to prepare for how the Amazon move to New York and Virginia will impact schools.

• How can donors play a role in enhancing education policies on school choice?

• Read more about the social cost of big tech moving to these cities. 

Now that the holiday season has come to a close and the flow of Amazon boxes arriving at our doorsteps has slowed to a trickle, New Yorkers and Virginians are bracing themselves for a different Amazon arrival — the company’s new offices planned for Long Island City and Northern Virginia.

As education researchers, we are focused on how Amazon’s arrival will transform schools in both areas.   We’ve spent years studying gentrification and education and believe that Amazon’s arrival presents an important opportunity to learn from the past — and to create policies that benefit all students and families before it is too late.

We know that high-wage workers with school-age children will enter each region’s already overcrowded public schools. Choice can lead to gentrification, and gentrifiers use school choice mechanisms to select private schools, charter schools, magnet schools, and gifted and talented programs. Families with social, cultural, and economic capital move into low-income neighborhoods but often opt out of local schools that are mostly black and/or Latino and low-income.

Where policymakers might go wrong is trusting that integration will happen on its own. The past also shows us that plans to integrate established schools are often met with resistance, or advantaged families wield their privilege to shape schools in ways that fit their children’s needs over those of others.

First and foremost, both New York City and Northern Virginia need strong policies to protect residents from displacement.  Second, policymakers must plan for Amazon’s arrival by creating integrated, high-quality schools that both new and old residents will want to opt into. Third, both districts need to create more classroom space.

School choice options and processes also need to be transparent, simplified, and accessible to all families.

Read the full article about school choice and gentrification by Allison Roda at Chalkbeat