Fleeing school choice? Resident student exit from suburban school districts

Abstract

This study examines the movement of students in suburban Detroit through open enrollment, or inter-district school choice. We examine whether absolute levels and changes in the district enrollment of Black, economically disadvantaged, and nonresident students are perceived as racial threats by suburban families, leading them to exit their local school districts, through school or residential mobility. Using a multilevel discrete time survival analysis, we found that, for each standard deviation increase in the absolute percentage of Black students in the district, resident students were nearly eight times more likely to use school choice to exit their district the subsequent school year, and for every standard deviation increase in the change of Black enrollment in the district, resident students were 32 times more likely to move to a new district. For every standard deviation increase in the absolute percentage of nonresident students in the district, a resident student was 3.5 times more likely to move to a different district. This study adds to the evidence that school choice policies may contribute to racial inequality and raises questions about the logic of shifting state education resources to nonresident districts, rather than investing in strengthening urban and exurban school systems.