How States Like New Jersey Can Finally End School Segregation
Separate and unequal. Such is the state of many New Jersey public schools 70 years after the Supreme Court ended racial segregation in Brown v. Board of Education. That landmark decision, handed down on May 17, 1954, is still incomplete because states like mine block students from attending the public school of their choice—the original request that drove Linda Brown to file her famous lawsuit. A local lawsuit from civil rights groups may soon right this wrong in New Jersey, but here and nationwide, the real solution to widespread yet unofficial segregation should come from state lawmakers, who have a rare bipartisan opportunity.
New Jerseyans have been grappling with the injustice of our education system for decades, but since 2018, there’s been hope that justice is near. That’s when the Latino Action Network, the NAACP New Jersey State Conference, and several other local groups and public school students sued the state board of education. Their filing opened with a jarring statement: “New Jersey currently operates one of the most segregated public school systems in the nation—a school system that knowingly separates Black and Latino children by race and ethnicity and segregates White students in predominantly White districts.”
At the time of the lawsuit’s filing, more than 60% of Latino students and 66% of Black students attended schools that were at least four-fifths non-White. About half attended schools where students of color accounted for 90% of the student body. This year, according to a Patch investigation, about one in five New Jersey school districts have 80% of students of a single race. As a New Jersey parent, I’m used to reading disturbing headlines like: “How segregated is your NJ school?”
New Jersey doesn’t have an explicit requirement that students of specific races attend specific schools, but it does have laws with the same effect. As the lawsuit noted, students go to public schools based on where they live—so-called residential assignment. Yet historical segregation known as redlining pushed many Black and Latino families into homogenous and lower-income neighborhoods, where they live to this day. Their children are then funneled into local schools that tend to have worse educational outcomes. Meanwhile, children in more affluent and white neighborhoods go to better schools.
Last year, the lawsuit finally went somewhere. A state judge reaffirmed that New Jersey has an obligation to address segregation in public schools. Since November, the plaintiffs have been working with Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration to find a path forward that doesn’t involve continued litigation. They asked the court to give them through April to reach an agreement, yet nothing has been announced. Since progress remains elusive, families and activists must demand a solution from the state legislature.
Lawmakers should pass the policy that the lawsuit plaintiffs want the courts to require: Give every kid equal access to every public school. Specifically, lawmakers should empower families to send their children to any public school that best meets their needs, while simultaneously barring schools from declining students based on their address. This would give families the freedom to switch from neighborhood schools that aren’t a good fit for their kids.
Such reforms have bipartisan appeal. Seven states—West Virginia, Kansas, Montana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Idaho—have passed similar laws since 2021, drawing significant to near-universal support from Democrat lawmakers. Many blue and purple states have also enacted strong policies, from Arizona and Colorado to Wisconsin and Delaware. As many states show, these reforms can appeal to Democrats who want to support public education and promote equity for disadvantaged communities.
New Jersey is far from the only state that should empower families with this freedom. In a recent report, my organization documented the lack of freedom for families to access public schools in Washington, D.C., and 34 states, from California to Texas. Every state but Idaho lets schools deny access to students based on their address, while 24 states have criminalized parental address sharing. In state after state, there are media stories of homeless children who were kicked out of public school, families who were investigated to ensure they actually lived where they claimed, and even parents who were jailed for sending their kids to schools outside their zip codes.
The punishment of parents for trying to give their kids a better education both evokes and perpetuates the injustice that Linda Brown sought to end in 1954. The 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education has now passed, but by the 75th anniversary, every state should finally give every student equal access to quality public education.
