Throughout the history of the United States, themes of racism and segregation have been inextricable from discussions regarding the organization and implementation of education. Perhaps more than in other regions and due to a history of formalized segregation, the connection between race and education is especially clear in the American South.
Georgia, although parts of the state distinguish themselves from much of the South through their urbanicity and progressivity — particularly in and around Atlanta — is certainly not exempt from the dark history of the region. On the contrary, even in the capital city, education has been paradigmatic of the structural inequity that preferences whiteness at the expense of Black students. Still today, Georgia’s school system reveals sharp educational differences based on race, many of which have their roots in the legalized policies of segregation and racism in the state’s past.
Using data from the Georgia Department of Education, I was able to track the racial demographics of the state’s public-school students dating back to 1995. Data analysis confirms what many might know or suspect: Georgia’s public-schools have gotten less white over time. Some of that change is due to changes in the underlying population characteristics. Based on an Atlanta Journal Constitution analysis, 67 percent of Georgia residents were white in 1995; by 2018, that number has fallen to 54 percent.
But changes in the state’s residents do not explain all of the shifts in student race. DOE enrollment data reveals that only 39 percent of Georgia public-school students are white, down from the 1995 proportion of 57 percent. White students are under-represented in public schools because they are more likely to attend private schools, in keeping with both national trends of white parental preference for white learning environments for their children and with Georgia’s history as a haven for segregationists. Nearly 65 years after Brown v. Board of Education and 50 years after most Georgia districts were ordered to desegregate by the courts, segregation is still a present reality for many of the state’s students. “Intensely segregated” schools are those in which a single demographic group comprises at least 90 percent of the student body; in 2018, almomst 300 Georgia schools (13 percent of all schools in the state) qualify as “intensely segregated.” Black segregated schools account for 220 of them, on their own.
Maps can help communicate the degree of segregation between racial groups — especially between Black students and non-Black students.
The isolation of Black students is especially apparent in and around the Atlanta area. Schools throughout the northern regions of the capital city are predominantly populated by white students, while schools in the southern swaths enroll predominantly Black students.
Fulton County, the district that enrolls students living either north and south of Atlanta, exhibits some of the highest degrees of segregation of any district in the state. And, in keeping with a history of disinvestment from Black schools by policymakers, the patterns of racial segregation in Fulton-county schools are matched by differences in school quality, based on Georgia’s comprehensive school performance and college-readiness metric, CCRPI.
North Fulton, generally wealthier and whiter, has schools that rank among the best in the state. South Fulton, which in 2015 became one of the last areas within Fulton County to consolidate into an established city, tends to have schools which enroll more Black students and rank worse on the state’s comprehensive metric.
Troup county, a 12,000-student district on Georgia’s western border with Alabama, is another region that highlights the pernicious racial segregation that exists to this day. In 1995, the United States brought legal action against Troup County, asserting that it was failing to meet the requirements of a 1969 court order to desegregate their public scools. Immediately thereafter, Troup de-segregated its schools, once again. However, after a 1997 challenge resulted in the lawsuit being dismissed, Troup County schools have been on a steady trend toward re-segregation. Some of the county’s highest-performing schools enroll fewer than 20 percent Black students, while other schools with high concentrations of Black students achieve worse results or close down, entirely.
Generally, public schools in Georgia which have a higher proportion of Black students score lower on the CCRPI, a trend that has been consistent throughout the three years for which data is publicly available.
Black and white, although particularly relevant given Georgia’s context as a slave state and central setting in the struggle for African American and Civil Rights, are not the only racial characteristics worth attention. Among general increases in immigration and racial diversity within the state, the hispanic population is especially large. This year, 16 percent of public-school students in Georgia are Hispanic, and in some districts the proportion is much higher. For example, 20 percent students in Clayton County — which is located just southeast of Fulton and near the Atlanta Airport — are Hispanic. Some schools within the district are more than half filled by Hispanic students. White families have all but evacuated Clayton County schools, as a mere 3 percent of the student population is white.
