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A History of Inequity

Â鶹ÊÓƵ has had a long and painful history of racially segregating its neighborhoods* through race covenants like redlining and other economic policies between 1913 and 1948, and appraisal tactics were used to perpetuate real estate segregation into the late 1970’s. Historically, neighborhoods with mostly white demographics were heavily invested in while funding was divested in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of people of color. A near century of these practices has led to predominantly white neighborhoods having a major advantage. Until recently, this was even true in our District, where patterns of preferential public investment matched this trend; more funding was being poured into schools in affluent neighborhoods to bolster enrollment. 

Today’s Approach

Our District’s core value is that our system is inequitable by design and we vigilantly work to confront and interrupt inequities that exist to level the playing field and provide opportunities for everyone to learn, grow and reach their greatness. Our investments now reflect this value as we seek to prioritize investments using an equity index and by identifying schools with high or moderate-to-high percentages of students identified in our LCAP goals, including students of color, students with disabilities, English language learners, foster youth and homeless youth.

Why Neighborhood and Facilities Planning Matter

Where we grow up can determine the trajectory of our lives, and even predict our life spans. Strong correlations between the lasting impact of how neighborhoods were historically segregated and socioeconomic hardships like poor air quality, food deserts, lower life expectancies and even academic achievement can be easily identified by mapping. In an effort to disrupt these inequities, we are using such mapping to guide investments into schools whose facilities were once neglected. 

The voter-approved Measure H bond is a $750 million funding source that we are investing to modernize these facilities, and in some cases, to rebuild them from the ground up. While this is a drop in the bucket compared to our $4.4 billion assessment of need throughout our district, we have pinpointed vision projects, such as the rebuilding of some of our schools, to align with our theory of change. 

Approving these bond measures helps our Facilities team continue doing this work to level the playing field. Thank you, Â鶹ÊÓƵ voters, for supporting our students.