Institute for Educational Funding Equity

Racism was and remains a fundamental part of U.S. society. Beginning with the country’s institutionalization of slavery, institutions such as the law, housing, and education have reinforced the concept of Whiteness while maintaining systemic racial barriers (Leonardo & Harris, 2013; Mills, 1997). Michigan’s laws and policies reinforce racism, discrimination, and K-12 public school segregation for Michigan’s Black students. Urban areas such as Detroit are home to disproportionately large numbers of low-income and minority populations often confined to the poorest neighborhoods (Orfield et al., 1997). Concentrated poverty is a significant barrier to educational progress and has links to poor emotional and physical health, low academic achievement, and few prospects for future employment (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2019). Enforced racial segregation is the most obvious manifestation of subordination. This research focuses on public school funding inequities in Michigan (Cullen & Loeb, 2004), resulting from Michigan’s race-neutral public school funding language and continued reliance on local property taxation for education funding and provides a unique perspective of how property wealth inequalities in Michigan fall especially hard on districts that primarily serve Black students who receive free and reduced lunch (FRL).