Essays on the causes and consequences of racial inequality in education and beyond

Abstract

Essay One: Do race-neutral school safety policies have race-neutral impacts? In this paper, I present novel findings on the effects of statewide law enforcement credential and special training requirements for school resource officers (SROs) on Black-White gaps in suspensions, expulsions, law enforcement referrals, and school-related arrests (i.e., school exclusion). I answer these questions using data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights' 2013-14 through 2020-21 Civil Rights Data Collection school-level surveys and supplementary sources. The study leverages state and time variation in adopting SRO credential and training statutes between 2014-15 and 2020-21. The analysis compares Black-White school exclusion gaps in majority and minority Black middle and high schools with SROs between treated and untreated schools. I estimate average treatment effects on the treated using an advanced difference-in-difference method, clustered by state. The results indicate that requiring SROs to hold sworn law enforcement credentials more than doubles racial gaps in suspensions and law enforcement referrals in majority Black schools but not in minority Black schools and that SRO training policies have no significant relationship with racial school exclusion gaps. I then evaluate whether racial differences in school exclusion outcomes result from individual behaviors and cultural norms or structural factors like systemic discrimination—the first study to assess whether individualist or structuralist explanations underlying the relationship between SROs and racial disparities in school discipline better explain the findings. The findings suggest the need for structural, race-conscious policy changes to address racial disparities in school discipline. Essay Two: We ask if better funded public schools reduce violent crime exposure in the United States. Acknowledging that local governments may tradeoff funding for schools and public safety, we explore violent crime reduction caused by increased state funding for schools during the finance reform era. Cash infusions generated by state finance reforms target disadvantaged communities and cause sharp declines in homicide rates for counties with at least one treated school district. The homicide reductions are only for Black males, are not caused by changes in other public safety spending, and cannot be explained by demographic sorting after the reforms. Our results highlight the social benefits of public school investment that increases the cost of crime for individuals on the margin. Essay Three: Success in the labor market is often contingent upon access to educational resources. Black students, however, are disproportionately denied these resources due to school suspensions and are also more likely to face labor market discrimination as adults. This paper investigates the relationship between racial disparities in school suspensions and adult employment and earnings. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth – 1997 Cohort, I examine the intersection of race, school suspensions, and labor market outcomes to understand how suspensions impact long-term employment prospects for Black and White individuals. I employ two-way fixed effects models to identify the relationships between K-12 suspension and post-secondary employment and earnings. Descriptive results demonstrate that suspensions are related to increased unemployment, decreased weeks and hours worked, and decreased earned income. Black individuals who were ever suspended are more likely to work fewer weeks and hours and earn lower income than White individuals who were ever suspended. Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions suggest that suspension may explain part of the racial gaps in post-secondary labor outcomes. However, the unexplained portion of the gap remains after including other characteristics. The insights from this study illuminate how racial inequality in education exacerbates economic disparities later in life. Additionally, this research has significant implications for policies addressing racial inequality within hierarchical systems such as education and the labor market.