2002 - Private Schools and "Latino Flight" from Black School Children

Findings:

• Evidence of higher levels of integration (interaction) between Latinos and Blacks than between Whites and Blacks even after the racial composition of the metropolitan area is controlled.
• Found that Latino schoolchildren live closer to private schools on average than do Whites. So racially motivated flight to private schools by Latino schoolchildren should not be limited by the children’s lack of proximity to private schools.
• Results do not provide evidence to suggest that Latino and White schoolchildren have different racial attitudes.
• Higher levels of family income and parental education have a strong positive effect on the probability of Latinos attending private schools.
• A 10% point increase in the Black share increases the probability of private school attendance by 25.7% to 33.2% among Latino 8th graders and 35.2% to 52.2% among Latino 10th graders.
• There is evidence of “Latino flight” from public schools into private schools.
• Latino show strong support for voucher programs, which suggests that the flight of Latinos into private schools may increase substantially if these programs become widespread.
• Assuming that the results of this study are due to race and are not due to a spurious correlation, they provide suggestive evidence that the introduction of private school vouchers may lead to increased segregation as families have greater opportunities to enroll their children in homogenous schools.