School Segregation, Income, and Environmental Hazards: An Environmental

Justice Study in Western New York

Kimberly L. Barrett & Lyndsay N. Boggess, Ph.D.Friday, November 16, 2012

American Society of Criminology- 2012 Annual MeetingChicago, IL

Introduction Link in the literature between school environment &

student performance (Gottfredson et al., 2005)

School’s distance to Environmental Harms of special concern

Does location of environmental hazards in Buffalo perpetuate school segregation and concentrated disadvantage?

Literature Review & BackgroundHuman Ecology vs. Race and Political Economy

Function of the market (Been, 1994) or race and SES interact (Bullard, 1994)

Schools and Proxy to Environmental HazardsChildren extra sensitive to toxins (Landrigan et al., 2010)

School Segregation, Environmental Hazards, and Buffalo6th most segregated city in the nationLove Canal, Bethlehem Steel, Allied Chemical

The Current StudyDifferentiates from prior environmental justice work by:

Being the first to focus on schools in Buffalo, NY Studying years 2000-2010

Hypothesizes:H1: Schools with Low SES significantly closer to hazardsH2: School high in minority enrollment significantly closer to

hazardsH3: Over time, schools close to hazards will become

significantly segregated and have lower SES Race and Political Economy Theory

DataTwo Sources:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (n = 72) Envirofacts Database

New York State Department of Education (n = 50) Obtained for Buffalo Public Schools, from DOE School Report

Cards: NYSTART Database Only schools with complete data for ten years included (4 schools

dropped: initial n = 54)

MeasuresEnvironmental Hazard

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) (n = 28) Facilities that use, manufacture, treat, transport or release and one

of over 650 identified toxinsResource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA) (n = 12)

Facilities that generate, treat, transport, store, or dispose of hazardous waste

Used RCRAs that “require corrective action”- in need of clean up response or program

Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) (n = 32) Identify sites where mismanagement of waste occurs or has

occurred

MeasuresSchool Segregation

Race of students at each school and for district obtained for 2000-2010District Totals 2000: 56.8% Black; 29.5% White; 10.9% HispanicDistrict Totals 2010: 56% Black; 23% White; 15% Hispanic

Socioeconomic Status (SES)% of students eligible for free lunch at each school for 2000-2010Used as proxy for SES

District Total 2000: 66.5% of district eligible for free lunchDistrict Total 2010: 70% of district eligible for free lunch

MethodUse GIS to map schools and hazards

# of meters to nearest hazard# hazards within 1 mile of school

Obtain segregation score for each school and district as a whole (Stretesky & Lynch, 2002; Darden & Kamel, 2000)

-1 = All white school & 1 = All minority Test H1 and H2 using Bivariate Correlations for years 2000

and 2010H3 tested using OLS regression for each year

ResultsLocation of Environmental

Hazards and Public Schools in Buffalo

Red = HazardBlue = School

ResultsDistrict Wide Segregation Scores for 2000-2010

Results H1: Schools with Low SES significantly closer to hazardsH2: School high in minority enrollment significantly closer to

hazards

In 2000: only Hispanic Segregation marginally significant with # of meters to hazard, in opposite direction r = .247, p = .083)

Similar results found for 2001, 2002, and 2003 onlyHispanic score: r=.243, .258, .239, p <.10, respectively

In 2010, neither minority composition or SES emerged as significantly related to proxy to hazard

Results H3: Over time, schools close to hazards will become

significantly segregated and have lower SES

Controlling for SES, as meters to hazard increase, segregation score increases (b = 1.5, p < .05)

After controlling for SES and prior year’s segregation score, coefficient for meters to hazard drops below significance in 2001, 2002, and 2003

Results Additional Correlations Performed to Examine Percent Change in

School Segregation Score & SESIn 2001 & 2006: % change in Hispanic segregation score marginally

significantly related to distance to hazard in meters in hypothesized direction

In 2001 & 2006: % change in SES significantly related to distance to hazard in meters

For 2004 & 2005: % change in Black segregation score significantly related to # of hazards < 1 mile, in opposite direction than hypothesized

Discussion Support for first and second hypothesis not found in this study

Marginally significant in few cases, and contingent on year

While Buffalo public schools appear to become increasingly segregated, this study does not find evidence that this is driven by proxy to environmental hazards

Observations do not appear to support either the Human Ecology or Race and Political Economy perspectiveIn fact, many of the significant relationships that emerge do so in

opposite than hypothesized directions

Conclusions Findings unpredicted but not unprecedented:

Krieg, 2005: No relationship between TRI sites & Black residents using zip codes in Buffalo

Downey, 2005: Minority segregated communities less proximate to TRI sites than white communities in Detroit

Paradox observed in “Rust Belt” Cities?Downey suggests: Socially Desirable “good”(employment) spatially tied

to socially undesirable “bad” (pollution) segregation acts as a protective factor The group that monopolizes on the “good” over-exposed to the

“bad”

Conclusions Implications:

Buffalo must confront its segregation problem in schools & communities

More environmental hazards in the city of Buffalo than schools Recommended that clean up endeavors should continue

Future Studies:Continue examining environmental justice in other “Rust Belt”

citiesContinued theorizing about proxy to environmental hazards,

race, and SES

Thank you!