Where school boundaries mirror redlined areas
Segregated neighborhoods are at the root of segregation in Seattle schools. From the time of the Great Depression until the late 1960s, the federal government told banks that certain areas with more residents of color and lower property values were risky investments for home loans. A now-illegal practice called redlining, these “risky” areas were labeled in red on maps according to their “grade of security.”
Redlining — and other forms of discrimination that prohibited people of color from living in certain areas — deprived many Americans from accruing generational wealth, and created the geographic class and racial divisions we see in the city today.
Sources: Esri; "Mapping Inequality," University of Richmond; Seattle Public Schools; Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times
Here are the boundaries that determine which school a student attends. Some of them absorbed redlined areas. But others, including West Seattle Elementary’s, nearly mirror these segregated lines.
Sources: Esri; "Mapping Inequality," University of Richmond; Seattle Public Schools; Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times
This overlap can have a profound impact on the demographics of schools. Research has found that formerly redlined areas are more likely to be economically struggling and to comprise low-income people of color. White students make up most of the population of the schools west of 35th Avenue Southwest, the western edge of West Seattle Elementary’s boundary.
Sources: Esri; "Mapping Inequality," University of Richmond; Seattle Public Schools; Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times