Redlining and Education in Omaha

The video linked above is a clip from KETV, channel 7 Omaha. In the clip from October 14th, 2019, the viewer is taken on a short tour of the display titled, "Undesign the Redline" which is being housed at the Union for Contemporary Art. In this short clip, a docent explains how redlining has affected Omaha as a whole as well as how its legacy affected communities of color. Part of that legacy extended to public schools. 

Research Question: How, if at all, are the Nebraska schools within the Omaha Public Schools system representative of neighborhoods and areas in Omaha that were or were not redlined? How do the features of school quality ranking support or object to this understanding?

Hypothesis: In understanding that public schools are funded by local, the sustained disinvestment in redlined neighborhoods contributed to higher risk of having lower-quality public schools. Some indications may be higher mobility rates in these areas as well as a more significant use of a free and reduced price lunch program. In using this data regarding the mobility rates as well as use of free and reduced price lunch of each of the public school as well as data regarding the racial breakdown of the schools it will become evident how redlining is racially based and does effect the public school system in Omaha.

Map 1:

The map placed above gives a visual depiction of the redlined districts as they sit in Omaha today. The purple district is district A, the most likely to receive a loan from a bank. The blue section are district B, they are the second most likely to receive a loan. The yellow districts are district C, they are third most likely to receive a loan. The fourth district is the red district, district D. They are the least likely to receive a loan, lenders were and are often discouraged from offering loans to people living in these areas. An example of this in can be seen in a case study performed in Philadelphia by the Chicago Tribune, "African Americans and non-Hispanic whites make up a similar share of the population there, but the data showed whites received 10 times as many conventional mortgage loans in 2015 and 2016." (Glantz & Martinez, 2018)

Map 2:

The map above shows a pinpoint sitting on each of the locations of all the Omaha public elementary, middle, and high schools.

Map 3:

Comparatively, the map above layers the original redlining map with the Omaha public schools locations. It is in assessing this map that it can be seen just how many fewer schools there are in the redlined districts of Omaha. In looking just at the schools within the redlined districts there are 34 available public schools in the A and B redlined districts while there are only 16 schools int he C and D districts of Omaha. Even in just these comparative numbers, with there being less than half as many schools available, it becomes clear how schools were affected by redlining.

Map 4:

In beginning to address the racial issue involved within redlining and the public school system maps 4-9 give a breakdown of the proportion of student population by race within the schools of Omaha's public schools system. Larger circles indicate a higher percentage.

The map above represents the Black population within the Omaha public school system. In looking at this map the viewer can see where the greater population of Black student reside in the lower three redlining districts, very specifically in the level D district which is part of North Omaha.

Map 5:

Map 5 is representative of the Asian population within the Omaha public school system. While their is more of a presence here of an Asian population in A districts there is still a disproportionately large majority that resides in the C and D districts of North Omaha.

Map 6:

Here, the Hispanic population is represented. Again the majority of the population resides within the lowest of the three districts, specifically South Omaha's district C and D.

Map 7:

Map 7 represents the multi racial population, here the dispersion of population is much more even across districts.

Map 8:

Map 8 represents the Pacific Islander population, here, again, the dispersion of population is much more even across districts.

Map 9:

This final racial breakdown map represents the white population living within the Omaha redlined districts in regard to the public schools. Relatively few schools in C and D districts have high proportions of white students. This map also highlights the legacy of suburbanization and white flight, since many of the schools with the highest percentages of white students extend west of the areal extent of the redlining map.

Map 10:

Map 10 illustrates the number of students who use the free and reduced price lunch services at the various OPS schools. In regard to offering free and reduced price meals, the OPS system says, "Proper nutrition plays an important role in the success of your student. Our complimentary breakfast program helps students focus on daily challenges. Participating in the School Breakfast and National School Lunch Programs allows the District to offer free or reduced-price meals to eligible students." (Online Meal Application, OPS)

In looking at the map itself it is clear how the use of free reduced price lunches occurs predominately in the B, C, and D districts. It is also within these districts that the majority of Omaha's minority groups can be found living as described in the above maps.

Map 11:

Beyond just school lunches, the mobility rates of students within Omaha public schools are higher in these areas of Omaha's minority groups. "Student mobility is the practice of students changing schools other than when they are promoted from one school level to the other, such as when students are promoted from elementary school to middle school or middle school to high school." (Student Mobility)

Living in underfunded, often redlined areas results in lower tax benefits to schools, relative to A level districts. Students are more likely to attempt and transfer in and out of school in hope of finding a better school, or just drop out all together.

This phenomena of the quality of school based on redlined district as it compares to race and student mobility and even free and reduced price lunch use is unjust. Erika Emery sums up this idea in saying, "Educational redlining, as I use it here, refers to the use of a mapping system that utilizes a parent’s home address to determine students’ school site placement, regardless of the environmental risks associated with impoverished areas. (Erika Emery, 1-2). Emery makes the point that schools operating within a redlined district are negatively impacted but the economic and social stigma that accompanies redlining. It is because of this that we see these trends as the maps above indicate. With this, the researchers have come to the conclusion after assessing the data that the Nebraska schools within the Omaha Public Schools system are representative of the poverty and neglect that has affected the neighborhoods and areas in Omaha that were redlined in a negative way as it relates to the public schools.