Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

Today’s NYTimes features an op ed article by Dorothy Brown describing the vicious circle whereby a Black person’s ability to accumulate wealth through home ownership  is stymied by the fact that their acquisition of a home in an affluent White neighborhood often leads to an erosion of the value of their home should more than 10% of the populous in that community be Black. This White flight triggered by Black ownership is racist at its core, and it creates a vicious circle for Blacks not only because they cannot accumulate wealth through the acquisition of property, but because the quality of schools and public services is often inextricably tied to local property taxes which are driven by property taxes. In order to gain access to good schools, well maintained roads, public parks, well stocked libraries, and good public services one must pay higher property taxes or live in a community with a good property tax base. A community with a good tax base is one with high value homes and/or clean industry. But Black families find that if their neighborhoods become increasingly diverse, which Ms. Brown suggests is more than 10% minority, that the value of their homes stagnates or plummets… which means that overtime the tax are in their community does the same— which means that over time their taxes either must increase substantially or their schools and services decline. If you do not believe this is the case, there are countless examples of this vicious circle occurring across the country.

What is the fix to this? There is no easy answer…. but the disentangling of property taxes and school funding would be one way forward. If school funding was done through sales and income taxes and the money was distributed in a fashion that assured that currently underfunded schools had the same resources as those funded by affluent communities it would afford an equal opportunity for the children of poor children of all races. That seems more politically viable than, say, reparations and more likely to occur than the change of heart needed to end housing discrimination. But the fix to this can only happen when we collectively acknowledge that they way we now provide schooling is inherently unfair and unjust… and, because of the way we treat Blacks, inherently racist.