Cracks in the Melting Pot: Immigration, School Choice, and Segregation *

Abstract This paper examines whether the large wave of Mexican immigration to the United States since 1970 has lowered non-Hispanic demand for public education. Our analysis focuses on California, where many of these immigrants settled, accounts for endogeneity of immigrant inflows using established settlement patterns, and uses relative outflows of children from a district to identify shifts in district choice working through schools. We find that between 1970 and 2000, the average metropolitan school district in California lost at least 12 non-Hispanic children to other school districts and two to private school within district for every ten additional low-English Hispanic arrivals in its public schools. These responses are similar in magnitude to "white flight" from school districts court-ordered to desegregate in the 1960s and 1970s

Cracks in the Melting Pot: Immigration, School Choice, and Segregation *

Abstract Recent research finds that native-born Americans avoid settling in immigrant neighborhoods. We examine whether sorting stems from reductions in native demand for public education. Our analysis focuses on Mexican immigration to California, addresses endogeneity of immigrant inflows using established settlement patterns, and uses a comparison group to account for the effects of immigration on other district attributes. We find that between 1970 and 2000, the average metropolitan school district in California lost 16 non-Hispanic households with children to other school districts for every 10 additional households enrolling low-English Hispanics in public schools. Our findings suggest that the native reaction to immigration disproportionally affects children, and thus may have longer-run consequences than previously thought