A little thread about what I think has been and will be the most intractable driver of race-based inequality since at least the 1960s: de facto segregated housing and the unequal public education that goes with it.
1/

Check this quote and the book cited in the tweet above it for a good background. 2/ https://mobile.twitter.com/RealKHiveQueenB/status/1354053234285977600

We all know the legal background of segregation in housing and public education. We know about ‘white flight’ when Black people moved into cities, taking the tax base with them, leaving city school districts under-funded. 3/

We know about a history of middle class Black families been discouraged (sometimes barred) from buying in white middle class suburbs, and often chased out when they did. But where are we now? 4/

People talk around the problem a lot: they talk about k-12 inequality, they tried busing and still argue about it, talk about encouraging home-ownership and investing in Black communities, but there’s a third rail in politics: local education funding. 5/

Everyone with children who has bought a house knows that the quality of local schools is one of the major factors in housing pricing, because it’s one of the major factors in demand. Why is it one of the major factors? Because we are *all* aware of the inequality in schooling. 6/

And we are *all* aware how much schooling impacts the whole course of our children’s lives. The awareness is proved by the market premium on houses in ‘good’ school districts. 7/

We also know that the biggest single investment in the lifetime of a middle class parent is usually their house. The value of that house is a significant portion of a middle class person’s net worth. 8/

You can see in the angst journalism when the housing market dives how aware middle class people are of the importance of their home value.

9/

So, housing value is tied to the quality of local schools and middle class people are concerned about the value of their housing.

Imagine a candidate who needs middle class votes campaigning vigorously on equalizing k-12. 10/

Think about why this might not play as well as equalizing medical care or college access.
Because once “equalize k-12” leaves a vague ideal and becomes a practical matter, a lot of middle class voters will realize 11/

Hold on - that means the value of my house takes a dive. My house has a value premium *because* the schools are better than other schools in the area. I *paid* a huge premium *because* the schools are better. 12/

It’s a third rail in politics - it’s something that everyone knows is a problem but no one wants to touch, because the voters everyone fights for - those middle center waffling suburbanites, whether they ID as liberal or conservative 13/

Whether they try really hard to be anti-racism or tell themselves that we all have equal opportunity - all have a big literal financial investment in unequal schooling.

How to break the link of unequal schooling to housing is one of the deepest challenges the US will face.

For evidence that variations in school district quality impact housing prices, this discussed it and links to studies.

This is why the middle class will obstruct assessing education inequality. This is why politicians don’t even touch it. 15/ https://www.opendoor.com/w/blog/how-school-ratings-impact-home-prices

And this is why it is a political problem that a LOT of think tank work needs to go into how to resolve it. *everyone* could agree it *should* be done, but key voters will still vote against it because it threatens the value of their greatest investment.