When Public Meets Private: Private School Enrollment and Segregation in Virginia

Authors

Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Ash Taylor-Beierl, Virginia Commonwealth University
Erica Frankenberg, Pennsylvania State UniversityFollow
April Hewko, Virginia Commonwealth University
Andrene Castro, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow

Abstract

Recognizing Virginia’s central role in the expansion of segregated southern private schools after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, we review law and policy related to private school segregation. We also conduct an empirical analysis of Virginia private school enrollment and segregation since the turn of the twenty-first century, finding uneven enrollment even as the number of private schools has grown. Segregation in the sector is deepening. As public funding for private schools rises, we make the case that the increasingly blurred lines between public and private education in Virginia are rooted in adaptive discrimination.

Recommended Citation

Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Ash Taylor-Beierl, Erica Frankenberg, April Hewko, and Andrene Castro, When Public Meets Private: Private School Enrollment and Segregation in Virginia, 30 Wash. & Lee J. Civ. Rts. & Soc. Just. 95 (2024).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj/vol30/iss2/5