Historic redlining in Syracuse continues to impact public schools
President Trump’s executive order limiting DEIA within the U.S. has sparked conversations regarding the importance of diversity within public schools. The city of Syracuse is one of the nation’s most racially segregated and poorest cities. Joe Zhao | Design Editor
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When Christine Ashby, director of the Center on Disability and Inclusion at Syracuse University, moved to central New York, her family faced a decision; while city schools would offer their children a socially and culturally diverse experience, they face academic struggles.
In a more suburban district, like the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District, her kids might get a better education on paper but would study in a less diverse classroom, she said.
Ashby said the Syracuse City School District remains highly segregated as a result of neighborhood borders drawn nearly a century ago. The borders’ effects still surface in the school’s demographics, she said.
For Ashby, the diversity in SCSD was a deciding factor to ultimately enroll her children in the district, despite concerns surrounding filling teacher positions and a lack of funding.
“My husband and I made a conscious decision to live in the city because we wanted our kids to go to a more diverse school. That was really important to us,” Ashby said. “So, I would argue that it made our school better than perhaps the suburban school.”
SCSD continues to feel the effects of segregation despite the formal eradication of redlining in 1968 through the Fair Housing Act. While Ashby and others advocate for further integration, new federal orders limiting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility within the United States have local educators concerned for the future of these efforts.
SCSD, which has over 30 schools and 19,000 students, has seen low standardized test scores in recent years, according to U.S. News and World Report. From 2020 to 2022, sixteen percent of students in SCSD elementary schools tested at or above a proficient level for English, while only 11% were found to be at that same level for math.
During the same years, FMCSD, a predominantly white district, had 73% of students at or above the proficiency level for English, and 77% for math, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Christopher Cleveland, an assistant professor of education and education policy at Brown University, said Trump’s policies are impacting the politicization of school segregation. While the president has not publically spoken against integration efforts specifically, Cleveland said Trump’s cuts to federal funding likely won’t help the cause.
“(Integration) has not necessarily been considered a DEI issue,” Cleveland said. “So I think the question is how broadly framed DEI’s criticism is supposed to be relative to practices that have been in existence for the past 60-ish years.”
The city of Syracuse remains one of the most redlined and economically polarized in the nation, Robert Searing, curator of history at the Onondaga Historical Association, said. Redlining was a tactic used to deny non-white residents from receiving credit on the basis of where they lived, which prevented many people in historically Black communities from moving into other parts of cities.
Ashby said when redlined maps are lined up with current maps that show the racial demographics of SCSD schools, the images reflect each other. The city still demonstrates a racial divide in schools, Searing said. The Century Foundation reported that about 93% of Syracuse school segregation is a result of past segregation between districts.
Cleveland said he’s noticed these similarities in other urban areas across the U.S.
Neighborhoods that received a “D” rating from the Federal Housing Administration typically contain lower-performing schools and a majority Black student body, Cleveland said. This contrasts neighborhoods that received an “A” rating, whose schools typically enrolled wealthier, white students and saw higher academic performance.
Ashby also said the city’s construction of the I-81 highway viaduct in the 1950s accelerated the negative impact of redlining. The viaduct, which passes over public schools including Dr. King Elementary School, has faced backlash from city residents who are concerned about students’ exposure to noise and air pollution. The viaduct is set to be torn down by 2028 as part of the I-81 Viaduct Project.
“When you add 81 in, it literally creates a boundary between wealthier neighborhoods and neighborhoods of less means,” Ashby said.
Though he views I-81’s teardown as a step in the right direction, Searing said city-wide segregation will take more time to overcome. Without intentional policy change and advocacy from grassroots organizations, he said its redlining history would still impact city- and nation-wide segregation.
“Segregation has been illegal since 1964, but segregation still exists because the processes that created these realities have been in action for much longer,” Searing said. “It will take concerted efforts and more policies to undo those deleterious effects.”
Ashby echoed Searing and said segregation within school districts can also be traced to districts’ current catchment borders that outline school districts. She said these borders are frequently shaped to protect white neighborhoods and separate them from communities with more Black and Brown residents.
“In the redlined neighborhoods, students with disabilities, particularly students of color, were less likely to be included, less likely to be in general education, and more likely to have particular disability labels than kids in other neighborhoods,” Ashby said.
Outside of redlining itself, Ashby said white flight — the phenomenon of white people moving to suburban areas for improved education options — also plays a large role in the segregation of SCSD. She said residents have a responsibility to undo historic lines and integrate communities.
Searing said city historians will continue to study redlining and its continued impact in communities like Syracuse. He hopes their efforts will yield concrete changes at all levels of government.
“Restrictive racial covenants were outlawed by the Supreme Court in 1948, but they continued to be enforced, because, as with any law, the law is only as good as the enforcement mechanism,” Searing said. “Is redlining technically illegal? Sure it is, but the practices still continue.”
